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
Exhibitions listed by
order of closing date
May 6 2006 thru September 24 2006
Virgil Ortiz La Renaissance Indigene
Virgil Ortiz's works are influenced by
cochiti, Pueblo folk art figures that caricatured circus
performers traveling through the territories in the late 19th
century. This exhibition includes nine of his pottery figures, plus
couture designs by the artist, two produced in collaboration with
Donna Karan
May 6 2006 thru September 24 2006
Will Wilson Auto Immune Response
In this large, complex multimedia
installation, seven large-scale photographs surround a
post-apocalyptic version of a traditional Navajo house, and describe
a future traveler's experiences of a culture that has been affected
by contemporary society and technology
November 5 2005 thru May 30 2007
Born of Clay
Ceramics from the National Museum of the
American Indian
301 clay pieces 5,000 years of Native
American ceramic traditions ranging from eastern North America to
the Andes
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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