National Museum of the American Indian
1 Bowling Green | at the foot of Broadway
Financial District | Manhattan
to South Ferry | 
to Bowling Green
  
to Broad Street |
to Whitehall Street
General Information
Contact 212-514-3700 |
National
Museum of the American Indian
Hours
Monday thru
Wednesday 10:00A to 5:00P
Thursday 10:00A to 8:00P
Friday thru
Sunday 10:00A to 5:00P
Closed Christmas Day
Extras
Gift Shop / Book
Store
Admission Free
Highlights
The world's largest and finest
collection of Native American artifacts grew out of the collection
of George Gustave Heye who, later an investment banker, worked as an
electrical engineer in Arizona during the first part of the 20th
Century. Heye collected obsessively, traveling the American West and
Central and South America on his search expeditions. He moved his
collection to Audobon Terrace at 155th Street in 1922. Crippled by
the Crash of '29, the Museum was in dire straights for many years.
New York City politics and changing administrations stifled many
attempts at financial rescue and relocation and the Museum finally
merged with the Smithsonian in 1989. The historic New York Custom
House, renamed the Alexander Hamilton Custom House, is the current
repository of the Museum's extensive collection
The breadth and depth of the
collection is almost unimaginable. This is not a jumble of trinkets,
but includes pieces from Northern Eskimos, Northwest Coast Indians,
Plains tribes, Indians of the Southwest, Central America, the
Caribbean and South American indigenous peoples as far as Tierra del
Fuego. The Museum's collection contains more than 1 million pieces,
ranging from pre-historic Clovis spear points to contemporary Native
American prints. Other highlights include a superb collection of
Katchina dolls, Central American textiles, gold and jade work, as
well as Sitting Bull's drum and Geronimo's hat
Starting October 2010, Infinity of
Nations, a new permanent exhibit, will feature about 700 works
of art from around the Americas.
Exhibitions listed by
order of closing date
September 4 thru January 16 2011
HIDE: Skin as Material and Metaphor (Part II)
December 11 2009 thru August 8 2010
Ramp It Up Skateboard Culture in Native
America
March 6 thru August 1 2010
HIDE: Skin as Material and Metaphor (Part I)
November 14 2009 thru July 7 2010
A Song for the Horse Nation
Things change quickly in NYC. Be sure to contact the museum or society for changes to schedules, admission fees, restrictions on children, strollers, backpacks, etc.
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