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National Museum of the American Indian

Plains nations' pipes and pipe bags from the collections of the National Museum of the American Indian and the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History. On view in the exhibition “Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations” at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. (Ernest Amoroso, Smithsonian)

2020 State of the Indian Nations Outlines Priorities to Advance Tribes' Nation-to-Nation Relationship with the United States

Coiled basket jar, ca. 1900, made by Mary Burkhead (Western Mono). Madera County, California. 16/5503. Through archival research, the museum now knows that a Western Mono woman named Mary Burkhead made this coiled basketry jar, information not listed on the catalog card. The research is part of a multiyear, multi-institutional project to recover information that was separated from, or perhaps never a part of, the museum's catalog records. (National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian. Note: Objects and catalog cards in these photo composites are not to scale.)

Spotlight on Collections: Expanding Both What We Know and What's Available Online

Thanksgiving, as the United States’ origin story, leaves out painful truths about the nation’s history. Giving thanks, however, has always been part of Native Americans’ everyday lives. Image: Earnest L. Spybuck (Absentee Shawnee, 1883–1949).

Do American Indians Celebrate Thanksgiving?

Alaska Magazine calls the Inuit drum-dance group Pamyua

From new music and dance fusions to traditional festivals, the museum's Native American Heritage Month is something special

Ian Kuali'i with some of his cut-paper art, June 2019. (Courtesy of the artist)

Time-lapse video of artist Ian Kuali'i working on a paper-cut portrait

Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Roach. Italy, 1944 or 1945. (Photo courtesy of Della Boyer)

The Italian Campaign, the Lord’s Prayer in Cherokee, and U.S. Army Sergeant Woodrow Wilson Roach

Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee) at the opening of the exhibition

Fulfilling Her Promise: Museums Honor Native Rights Advocate Suzan Harjo

Command Sergeant Major Julia Kelly (U.S. Army retired), one of 80 Native American delegates to the 75th anniversary observance of D-Day, stands on Omaha Beach. Kelly holds an eagle feather staff, an American Indian symbol of respect, honor, and patriotism. (Courtesy of Julia Kelly)

On the 75th Anniversary of D-Day, Native Americans Remember Veterans’ Service and Sacrifices

Winyan (Woman) Power: New Art by Kevin and Valerie Pourier Honors Women Who Stand Up for the Rights and Welfare of Others

A design drawing shows the standing metal ring of the National Native American Veterans Memorial as it will be seen from the southeast corner of the National Mall, between the Capitol Building and the National Museum of the American Indian. (Design by Harvey Pratt/Butzer Architects and Urbanism, illustration by Skyline Ink, courtesy of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian)

New Drawings Show the National Native American Veterans Memorial Taking Its Place on the National Mall

Members of the Cherokee Youth National Choir taking part in the installation of the Treaty of New Echota at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. (Paul Morigi/AP Images for the Smithsonian)

The Treaty That Forced the Cherokee People from Their Homelands Goes on View

Norma Baker–Flying Horse (third from left) with models wearing her Red Berry Woman designs. Paris Fashion Week, March 2019. (Ulla Couture Photography)

"A Lot of Our Traditional Clothing, We Had to Fight to Keep"—Fashion Designer Norma Baker–Flying Horse

Red dresses displayed along the river walk of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., represent the crisis of missing or murdered Indigenous women and girls. Conceived by Canadian artist Jaime Black (Métis),

The REDress Project on the National Mall Draws Attention to Life and Death Situations in Indian Country

Niuam (Comanche) peyote fan, ca. 1890. Oklahoma. 22/9197 (Ernest Amoroso, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian)

Native Perspectives on the 40th Anniversary of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act

Alaska Army National Guard Col. Wayne Don, then 38th Troop Command commander, pledges the Oath of Office, administered by Alaska Army National Guard Brig. Gen. Joseph Streff, Alaska Army National Guard commander, after Don was promoted to full colonel. Dena'ina Center, Anchorage, July 14, 2017. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. David Bedard)

A Tradition of Service: Colonel Wayne Don

Haudenosaunee bear effigy pipe, 17th c. Cayuga Lake, New York. 22/3765 (Ernest Amoroso, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian)

"Words Spoken Before All Others," the Ohenten Kariwatekwen or Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address

Petty Officer S. Joe Crittenden (U.S. Navy retired), deputy principal chief of the Cherokee Nation and a member of the advisory committee to the National Native American Veterans Memorial. (Photo by Jeremy Charles, courtesy of the Cherokee Nation)

A Tradition of Service: Navy Veteran S. Joe Crittenden, Deputy Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation

Ramey Growing Thunder (Fort Peck Sioux and Assiniboine Tribes), Chief John Spotted Tail (Rosebud Sioux Tribe), Carolyn Brugh (Fort Peck Sioux and Assiniboine Tribes), and Tamara Stands and Looks Back–Spotted Tail (Rosebud Sioux Tribe) take part in a ceremony at the National Museum of the American Indian honoring the Treaty of Fort Laramie. Ms. Growing Thunder holds a photograph of Medicine Bear (Yanktonai Band of Sioux), one of the Native leaders who signed the treaty 150 years ago. Delegations from the Yankton Sioux Tribe, Oglala Sioux Tribe, and Northern Arapaho Tribe also traveled to Washington, D.C., for the installation of the treaty in the exhibition

The 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, Never Honored by the United States, Goes on Public View

Designer, artist, activist, and organizer Jordan Cocker. (Tekpatl Kuauhtzin)

"To Indigenize the Western World"—Artist and Organizer Jordan Cocker

Manitok Thompson, Veronica Connelly, Rosie Kowna Oolooyuk, and Bernadette Dean at the National Museum of the American Indian's Cultural Resources Center. The four women—skilled caribou and sealskin clothing makers, and fluent Inuktitut-speakers and knowledge keepers—traveled to Washington from Nunavut as guests of the Embassy of Canada to attend the opening of the embassy's exhibition

Inuit Women's Survival Skills, Which Kept Arctic Explorers Alive, Help Heal Residential School Survivors

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