Alexandra Harris

National Museum of the American Indian

In partnership with Native peoples and their allies, the National Museum of the American Indian fosters a richer shared human experience through a more informed understanding of Native peoples. The museum in Washington, D.C., is located on the National Mall at Fourth Street and Independence Avenue S.W. The museum in New York City is located in the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House at One Bowling Green. The museum cares for one of the world's most expansive collections of Native artifacts, including objects, photographs, archives, and media covering the entire Western Hemisphere, from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego. The National Museum of the American Indian operates three facilities. The museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., offers exhibition galleries and spaces for performances, lectures and symposia, research, and education. The George Gustav Heye Center (GGHC) in New York City houses exhibitions, research, educational activities, and performing arts programs. The Cultural Resources Center (CRC) in Suitland, Maryland, houses the museum's collections as well as the conservation, repatriation, and digital imaging programs, and research facilities. The museum's off-site outreach efforts, often referred to as the "fourth museum," include websites, traveling exhibitions, and community programs. Since the passage of its enabling legislation in 1989 (amended in 1996), the National Museum of the American Indian has been steadfastly committed to bringing Native voices to what the museum writes and presents, whether on-site at one of the three venues, through the museum's publications, or via the Internet. The museum is also dedicated to acting as a resource for the hemisphere's Native communities and to serving the greater public as an honest and thoughtful conduit to Native cultures—present and past—in all their richness, depth, and diversity.