Every year the Archives receives a variety of digital video for its permanent collections. Contents include Smithsonian Channel programming, museum events, and special ceremonies. The timing of one such video from Accession 13-266, Smithsonian Institution, Video Recordings, c. 2001-2009 was a nice surprise, as it is the 2-hour video of the opening ceremony of the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) from September 21, 2004, in Washington, D.C.
President George H. W. Bush signed legislation in 1989 creating the National Museum of the American Indian as part of the Smithsonian. The National Museum of the American Indian Act (NMAIA) allowed for a museum in New York, a storage facility in Maryland, and a flagship museum in Washington, D.C. The New York museum opened as the George Gustav Heye Center in 1994, which is named after the founder of the Museum of the American Indian in New York City in 1916. The Cultural Resources Center in Suitland, Maryland, which opened in 1999, serves conservation and collection storage needs.
Opening day of the Washington, D.C., museum featured a Native Nations Procession along the National Mall with thousands of indigenous peoples participating from all over the Western Hemisphere. There also were special remarks by Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, U.S. lawmakers, and Smithsonian officials. The First Americans Festival also featured various musicians and entertainers. The opening brought together the largest known gathering of Native American communities in history.
U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell said at the opening, “Senator Dan Inouye, my friend and colleague, to whom we owe so much, often says that Washington is a city of monuments and yet, there is not one monument to the native people of this land. This magnificent structure, which we are going to open today, is that monument and in it we will tell our story.”
The limestone building itself is curvilinear and was the initial design of GBQC and Douglas Cardinal Limited. The project was further developed by Jones, House, and Sakiestewa, along with the architecture firms Jones & Jones, SmithGroup in collaboration with Lou Weller (Caddo) and the Native American Design Collaborative, and Polshek Partnership Architects. There also was input from Native American communities. Important requirements were that it be a “living museum,” resulting in an east-facing main entrance, a dome that opens to the sky, and a 4.25-acre landscape that includes many plants and trees, as well as some ducks.
The cost of the museum was $199 million and it had 1.4 million visitors in 2013. The three facilities have the world’s largest collection of Native American art and artifacts from North, South, and Central America.
Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations launches on the anniversary of the museum’s opening on September 21.
Enjoy some of the highlights from the procession. Please note that some of the clips have some glitches in playback.
Related Resources
- National Museum of the American Indian history, Smithsonian Institution Archives
- National Museum of the American Indian opening, September 21, 2004, C-Span
- National Museum of the American Indian website from the Grand Opening Celebration, October 12, 2004, Internet Archive
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