Museums

Heard Museum
Phoenix, AZ

The Heard Museum was founded in 1929 by pioneer Phoenix settlers Dwight B. and Maie Bartlett Heard.
The museum was one of the Phoenix area’s first cultural attractions, and is one of the world’s finest destinations for learning about American Indian arts and cultures.
Comprehensive collections, intriguing exhibitions, and interactive learning opportunities combine to make the Heard Museum an outstanding destination.

The Institute for American Indian Studies
Washington, CT

Edmund K. 'Ned' Swigart, an instructor at the Gunnery School, led the Wappinger Chapter of the Connecticut Archaeological Society from 1966 to 1970 with a focus on the Kirby Brook Site digs. In 1971, the chapter was incorporated as the Shepaug Valley Archaeological Society. With their collections growing and no place to exhibit them, co-founders Ned Swigart and Sidney Hessel began a capital campaign to raise monies and the American Indian Archaeological Institute was born. In 1975 the AIAI Visitor Center was officially dedicated.
The focus of the Institute has always been stewardship and preservation. In 1991, the name was changed and we became the Institute for American Indian Studies. With the name change there was a shift in focus to include education in conjunction with research.

Museum of the Cherokee Indian
Cherokee, NC

Located on tribal land in the Great Smoky Mountains, this non-profit organization tells the story of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, whose ancestors lived in these mountains for more than ten thousand years.
In addition to preserving the past through exhibits, collections, and archives, the museum connects your group with the living traditions and Cherokee people of today through the Cherokee experience. Spend a day or a week learning hands-on crafts from tribal members, dancing, eating native food, and walking nature trails in the mountains, guided by tribal elders.
The museum reaches beyond its walls to help tribal members revitalize traditions of stamped pottery, Cherokee dance, finger weaving with beads, rivercane basketry and more. By sponsoring the Warriors of AniKituhwa, the museum has helped bring to life Cherokee dances from three centuries ago.

Iroquois Indian Museum
Howes Cave, NY

The Iroquois Indian Museum is an educational institution dedicated to fostering understanding of Iroquois culture using Iroquois art as a window to that culture. The Museum is a venue for promoting Iroquois art and artists, and a meeting place for all peoples to celebrate Iroquois culture and diversity. As an anthropological institution, it is informed by research on archaeology, history, and the common creative spirit of modern artists and craftspeople.

Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center

The center offers engaging experiences for all ages, from life-size walk-through dioramas that transport visitors into the past, to changing exhibits and live performances of contemporary arts and cultures. Extensive interactive exhibits depict 18,000 years of Native and natural history, while two libraries, including one for children, offer a diverse selection of materials on the histories and cultures of all Native peoples of the United States and Canada.
Join us for a winter full of education and family fun. See our new exhibit, Native Words, Native Warriors, which tells the story of WWI and WWII American Indian code talkers and gain insights into the weapons and tactics used during the Pequot War.

Museum of Indian Arts & Culture

The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, is a premier repository of Native art and material culture and tells the stories of the people of the Southwest from pre-history through contemporary art. The museum serves a diverse, multicultural audience through changing exhibitions, public lectures, field trips, artist residencies, and other educational programs.

Museum of Indian Culture
Allentown, PA

Showcased in an 18th century stone farmhouse, the Museum of Indian Culture is an educational resource center for people of all ages to learn and research about the Lenape (Delaware) and other Northeastern Woodland Indian cultures.
In addition to the Northeast Woodland exhibits, the Museum's Inter-Tribal Room displays a variety of American Indian artistry such as leatherwork, beadwork, basketry, etc.

National Museum of the American Indian
New York, NY and Washington, DC

The National Museum of the American Indian is the sixteenth museum of the Smithsonian Institution. It is the first national museum dedicated to the preservation, study, and exhibition of the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of Native Americans. Established by an act of Congress in 1989 (amendment in 1996), the museum works in collaboration with the Native peoples of the Western Hemisphere to protect and foster their cultures by reaffirming traditions and beliefs, encouraging contemporary artistic expression, and empowering the Indian voice.
The museum's extensive collections, assembled largely by George Gustav Heye (1874–1957), encompass a vast range of cultural material—including more that 800,000 works of extraordinary aesthetic, religious, and historical significance, as well as articles produced for everyday, utilitarian use. The collections span all major culture areas of the Americas, representing virtually all tribes of the United States, most of those of Canada, and a significant number of cultures from Central and South America as well as the Caribbean. Chronologically, the collections include artifacts from Paleo-Indian to contemporary arts and crafts. The museum's holdings also include film and audiovisual collections, paper archives, and a photography archive of more than 300,000 images depicting both historic and contemporary Native American life.
The National Museum of the American Indian comprises three facilities, each designed following consultations between museum staff and Native peoples. In all of its activities, the National Museum of the American Indian acknowledges the diversity of cultures and the continuity of cultural knowledge among indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere and Hawai'i, incorporating Native methodologies for the handling, documentation, care, and presentation of collections. NMAI actively strives to find new approaches to the study and representation of the history, materials, and cultures of Native peoples.

Seminole Tribe of Florida Museum
Clewiston, FL

The museum exhibits and artifacts show how our Seminole ancestors lived in the Florida swamps and Everglades. The museum film, ‘We Seminoles,’ tells the nation’s story in its own words, including our dramatic struggle to remain in Florida. Nature trails will take you throughout the beautiful 60-acre cypress dome to a living village.
In the Seminole language, Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki means a place to learn. We invite you to come to the Big Cypress Reservation and learn about our exciting history and culture.