While in D.C. The Girl Who Thinks She’s a Bird and I went to the National Museum of the American Indian. The museum is part of the Smithsonian Institution and details every part of the Native American experience. The National Museum of the American Indian was our favorite non-garden museum of our whole trip.
The museum has tons of artifacts {more than 800,000, if you are counting} and covers pretty much everything Native American.
The Museum is broken up into areas: Amazon, Andes, Contemporary Art, Arctic/Subarctic, California/Great Basin, Mesoamerican/Caribbean, Northwest Coast, Patagonia, Plains/Plateau, Woodlands, etc. so it is easier to digest all of the information.
The museum tries not only to exhibit the history, but preserve Native American traditions as closely as possible. The canoes on display were one of our favorites. Can you imagine paddling across the river in one of these?
One thing we thought was super cool is museum officials consult tribal communities when dealing with curation practices. They even smudge the human remains vault with tobacco, sage, sweetgrass, and cedar once a week. The artifacts are carefully treated with respect, and when possible, broken down by individual tribal customs.
The museum seriously shows how skillful and artistic the Native Americans were at respectfully living off of the land–with some artifacts dating back as far as 12,000 years.
The detail work on the moccasins we saw were amazing.
The museum also shows how the cultures have evolved for living Native Americans today–showcasing a ton of modern day items. {Most of the items focus on North American Indians–with over 60% coming from the United States.}
After touring the museum, we stopped off at the Mitsitam Native Foods Cafe {Mitsitam literally means “let’s eat”}. To say we were surprised with the selection would be a huge understatement. Forget about your typical museum cafe food of sandwiches and fruit cups. The Girl and I both had red lentil soup and fry bread. And let me tell you Bob, it was delicious!
All in all, the National Museum of the American Indian was awesome!
~Mavis
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