National Museum of the American Indian

Reviews 6

BE

Benjamin Schaap

The worst of the Smithsonians. Im so disappointed and shocked with numerous things done here. Firstly, space and they way its used. When you first walk in, youll notice almost immediately hoe this huge, beautiful building has a gapping hole that takes up almost two fifths of inside realestate. A massive domed area was build, but isnt used for anything. It just wastes space. Ill touch back to this later. On the fourth floor, in an effort to include as many native American tribes as possible, the Smithsonian didnt have the room to build meaningful displays for any of the 10+ tribes they tried to represent. In trying to either be too politically correct, or just a quantity over quality mentality, the displays are just pathetic and bland. This exhibit should have had a whole floor, but instead got a fourth of it, because of the giant useless dome taking half and a theater taking a fourth. Speaking of the theater, its has a filler show, just scenes of tribes singing and dancing combined with nature shots. But then they delicate A WHOLE FLOOR TO THE INKA. The Inka tribe gets an entire floor to themselves, for some reason. The Mayan are mentioned twice throughout the museum, and Aztec none. "But man, you gotta here about the Inka." - Smithsonian designers Then, the gift shop takes up almost the whole second floor, with overpriced trinkets. Lets move on from the way space is utilized. The Native American exhibits themselves dont speak of the history of the Natives, it talks about them today world. Why would I come to the Smithsonian so I can learn about Alaskan tribes utilizing new equipment for fishing? I came for the history and artifacts!! The final straw though, is that they are called Indians, not native Americans. Its just so sad what it could have been, and what it is today.

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CE

Cecilia Cooke

My experience at the National Museum of theAmerican Indians left me with an awful taste in my mouth. In no way did this museum show any history of the origin of the Natives, their belief, their culture, their myths ( it wouldve been really cool to have an exhibit on their creation myths because Native Americans believed they emerged through different levels of the earth) or most importantly how all of that was stolen from them. There was not one thing in that museum that explained how White Americans came and stole their land and interrupted their way of life and caused mass genocide to Native American tribes in order to pave the way for the United States. I came to this museum expecting to be just as sad as I was when I left the Holocaust Museum. Because what happened to the Native Americans was basically the same thing: a holocaust on US soil. This museum was in no way informative or truthful. It showed little bits of trivial information on Native tools and a whole floor dedicated to some artwork from someone who I dont even think is Native. This museum is an insult to the indigenous people and the director or who ever designed this museum should be ashamed. This was such a huge disappointment. This museum should have been an acknowledgment and apology for what the US did to Native Americans to maybe help bridge the gap between us but instead it was sugarcoated bullshit.

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CH

Christina Chambreau

1. The entire museum followed, in many many ways - the path of Beauty and Spirit. few disposables in the cafe (true for many SI cafes, but felt very conscious here) - native foods from different areas - happy workers who had carefully tried all the foods. I loved the foods and felt they were well prepared for a cafeteria. 2. native plants outside rather than grass, with labels and comments on usage, surrounding the museum. 3. A sculpture exhibit by Nora Norango Morse made to "erode" with the elements, then be recreated newly. As we entered, 2 of us stopped to speak with a woman, asking about it. She told us a bit. Later we saw a brochure on it and we had been speaking with the main artist selected to create the outdoor sculpture. She was so humble. 4. My friend noted that the staff woman announcing and explaining the 15 min movie/multimedia show about the museum made her feel so welcome at a spirit level. 5. Our tour guide from a VA tribe was very informative and also able to be appropriate with a white woman married to a Navajo who had many "fairness" issues and comments. 6. My favorite was the interactive childrens area - the quiz show and the basket tests. Woudl have spent more time there - next time.

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MP

mppal32937

My review will echo many of those which acknowledge the architectural beauty of the museum, but decry the museums entirely superficial approach to Native American history. I would list this museum as a must-see for those interested in architecture, but as an easily bypassed institution if you are seeking to learn about the rich history and lifeways of Native Americans. The majority of space is this museum is exactly that: empty space. Indeed, there is more space dedicated to shops and the cafe than there is to educational displays and collections. The films shown in the various theaters are trite and nearly meaningless. Native Americans have a history of at least 12,000 years on the continents that comprise the Americas. In my opinion, your time would be better spent reading a good book or two on Native American history and culture than visiting this museum. Its a shame really, since the Smithsonian has one of the worlds premier collections of Native American artifacts that can be used to teach us about an incredible chapter in human history. Instead, this museum offers the narrowest glimpse into that history.

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MA

Margaret Mason

Its telling that most of the reviews focus on the food rather than the content of this museum. We were disappointed with our experience here. The exhibits require a lot of reading (difficult for non-native-English speakers!), but we still came away feeling like we didnt get a good picture of the histories of these (probably very diverse) tribes or of their cultural development, technologies, and contributions to life in this hemisphere. I also would have liked to have seen a response to the history I was taught in school as a kid (that Native Americans helped the settlers and taught them how to survive, but also that some of the tribes were extremely vicious and cruel; is this true? how did they help the settlers? should we be leaving kids to deduce that war against the Native Americans was provoked?). We did, however, get a better understanding of the horrible situation of their forced migration and near extermination; it was heartrending to learn more about this powerful and tragic story that we often brush over.

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TE

Teejay

This is a wonderful museum to visit, but it wont take you long to get through everything. This museum probably has the fewest actual artifacts of any of the Smithsonians Ive visited. About half the building is taken up by the atrium. The architecture is absolutely stunning, but it doesnt leave much room for exhibits (especially when you factor in a first floor cafe and second floor store). That said, the exhibits that are there are quite good. I cant recommend the Nation to Nation exhibit enough. It will open your eyes to the swindling deals our government forced upon our nations first people. The Inca Trail exhibit was very interesting as well. So much I didnt know about their culture. Make sure you visit the National Museum of the American Indian with an open mind and you will thoroughly enjoy reading about the various tribes of the Americas. And be prepared to read a lot ... because theres too much good information to just stick to the (relatively) sparse artifacts.

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