The history of the current National Museum of the American Indian begins with discussions in 1980 between the Smithsonian Institution and the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, in New York City, which had opened in 1922 with the private collection of George G. Heye (1874-1957), who had begun collecting in 1903. The Heye Collection of 800,000 objects, representing tribes from the entire Western Hemisphere, was one of the finest and most comprehensive Native American collections in the world. Highlights in the collection include fine wood, horn, and stone carving from the Northwest Coast; Navajo weavings and blankets; archaeological objects from the Caribbean; textiles from Peru and Mexico; basketry and pottery from the Southwest; gold work from Columbia, Mexico, and Peru; jade from the Olmec and Maya; Aztec mosaics; and painted hides and garments from the North American Plains Indians.
In 1987, responding to a proposal from the government, the board of trustees of the Museum of the American Indian unanimously adopted a resolution providing for an affiliation between its museum and the Smithsonian, and for the relocation of the museum collections to a new building on the National Mall in Washington. On November 28, 1989, legislation was signed establishing the National Museum of the American Indian as part of the Smithsonian Institution.
The transition from legislation to museum has been lengthy, but on September 21, 2004, it completed its final phase with the opening of a spectacular new museum structure on the National Mall to house and interpret some of the world’s finest examples of Western Hemisphere Native art and cultural expression. It features much of the best material from the Heye collection merged with other material that had long been in various national collections.
The NMAI?has two other venues. One is the George Gustav Heye Center in Lower Manhattan (see New York City listings), which opened in 1994. It serves as the New York location for this massive collection, as well as a cultural and living arts center. The other is the Cultural Resources Center in Suitland, MD (see Maryland listings), about six miles from Washington, D.C., where the museum’s storage is housed.