Indian Museum Education Programs

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VOICE ONE:

I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

The museum celebrates the past, present and future of the American Indian. (Picture - NMAI)

And I'm Steve Ember with
EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we tell about how the new
National Museum of the American Indian is educating the public.

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VOICE ONE:

A large group of school children waits outside the doors of the
new museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. They are loudly
talking and laughing with their friends while they wait. Then the
doors to the National Museum of the American Indian open.

The interior of the museum. (Picture - NMAI)

The young students move past the
security guards and walk around a metal wall. Suddenly they are very
quiet. They are standing in a huge round space that is the center of
the new building. Light from the sky pours in through a glass
opening almost forty meters above them.

This is a space that quiets people. It expresses the American
Indian respect for how the sky and the earth join to create the
native universe. The sudden silence of the students is evidence they
have begun to learn something about American Indians' culture and
beliefs. That is the goal of the new museum.

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VOICE TWO:

The National Museum of the American Indian opened September
twenty-first with a week-long celebration. On opening day, more than
eighty thousand people gathered on the Mall to celebrate. About
twenty-five thousand American Indians in their traditional clothes
marched in the colorful Native Nations Procession. They represented
five hundred tribes and Native communities from northern Canada to
as far south as Chile in South America.

VOICE ONE:

Congress created the NMAI as part of the Smithsonian Institution
in nineteen eighty-nine. Planning began the next year to create the
first national museum to honor Native Americans.

W. Richard West is the Director of the museum. (Picture - NMAI)

W. Richard West, a Southern
Cheyenne, has been the director of the museum since nineteen ninety.
Mister West explains that Native Americans have had a continuing
part in developing the design and goals of the museum and what it
should show the public. Meetings were held for years with hundreds
of Native people from North, Central and South America. They said
that this museum should be different from other museums. They wanted
the building to connect to the earth and its surroundings so it
looked like it belongs on Indian land. And they urged that the
voices and ideas of Native people be heard in all the displays and
programs.

VOICE TWO:

Their advice has been followed. The design of the building and
its surroundings show its connection to nature. Colors, materials
and forms that are found in American Indian lands are used outside
and inside the building. Throughout the museum, the voices of Native
people describe their world.

Mister West says the museum was created to be a center for
learning about the history and cultures of the native peoples of the
Americas. He hopes visitors will leave the museum experience knowing
that Indians are not just a part of history.

VOICE ONE:

The National Museum of the American Indian has about eight
hundred thousand objects in its collection. Most of them were
collected by one man, American businessman George Gustav Heye
(high). He spent the first fifty years of the last century gathering
all kinds of American Indian objects that have great artistic,
historic and cultural meaning.

The collection now is in three different buildings. Some of the
objects are shown in the George Gustav Heye Center in New York City.
Most of the collection is kept in the Cultural Resources Center in
Suitland, Maryland, which opened in nineteen ninety-eight. This is
also where people can do research.

The new museum in Washington, D.C. has about eight thousand
objects in its exhibits. It also has space for educational
activities, ceremonies and performances.

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VOICE TWO:

Representatives of Native communities helped develop the three
main exhibit areas in the new museum. One area is called Our
Universes: Traditional Knowledge Shapes Our World. It shows the
spiritual links between people and the natural world. And it shows
how these links are honored in many different ceremonies throughout
the year.

Eight Native communities are represented in the Our Universes
area. Tessie Naranjo helped choose the objects and the theme of the
Santa Clara Pueblo exhibit.

Mizz Naranjo says the goal is to help visitors understand how the
Santa Clara people look at life. This is done, she explains, through
storytelling, which is used throughout the museum. All tribal
stories have a teaching purpose, she says. Stories express the
values of each Native community and the way community members are
connected to the universe.

So the Santa Clara exhibit tells about the importance of water,
maize, and the four sacred mountains that surround the reservation
in New Mexico. Visitors learn how young people in Santa Clara are
taught to listen to older people and to honor the land.

VOICE ONE:

Another major exhibit area is called Our Peoples: Giving Voice to
Our Histories. It explores events that have shaped the lives of
Native Americans since Europeans arrived in fourteen ninety-two. It
shows how American Indians have struggled to save their traditions.

The third exhibit area is called Our Lives: Contemporary Life and
Identities. It tries to answer the question of what is an American
Indian. Visitors see objects, pictures, and films and hear spoken
words. They learn about the difficulties native peoples face to
survive economically, save their languages, and keep their culture
and arts alive.

VOICE TWO:

Genevieve Simermeyer, a member of the Osage tribe, is the school
programs coordinator for the museum. She says the museum education
office has developed three programs for different age groups of
school children. Nine Native Americans act as tour guides or
cultural interpreters. They meet school groups in the large open
space. Then they take the students through different areas of the
museum. They explain about some of the exhibits and answer
questions.

Before a group of school children visits the museum, their
teacher receives materials to help prepare them. The youngest
children from ages five to eight explore the idea of old things and
new things. At the museum they discover links between the past and
present in American Indian life.

VOICE ONE:

For groups of school children nine to eleven years old, the visit
to the museum is about the cultural values of Native Americans. They
explore how American Indians have dealt with change. Older children
learn how modern issues such as borders and treaties have affected
the culture, language and traditions of native peoples.

Mizz Simermeyer says the guided tours for school children are so
popular they are already filled through May. But school groups can
visit the museum without a guide. There are teaching materials to
help them prepare for the visit.

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VOICE TWO:

Storytelling takes place throughout the museum. There are short
films that tell American Indian stories. Voices in some of the some
exhibits tell stories that explain native beliefs. The cultural
interpreters also tell stories.

Adults and children also enjoy the hands-on parts of the museum.
Computer games and instructional devices that provide learning
experiences are very popular. So are teaching boxes that contain
objects that visitors can touch. For people who cannot get to the
museum, education materials can be found on the Internet at
AmericanIndian.si.edu.

Amy Drapeau (drah-poe) is a spokesperson for the National Museum
of the American Indian. She says the education program helps the
general public understand that American Indians are not just from
the past and are not all the same. They live in many different
places. They speak hundreds of different languages. And their
traditions are very different.

VOICE ONE:

Children who visit the museum seem to enjoy what they learn. You
can hear their excited comments as they make discoveries for
themselves. "Wow." "Come look at this!" "I did not know that."

Adults learn, too. A woman from Silver Spring, Maryland, says she
learned that present day Native Americans still have traditions they
know and value. She says that made her think about her own family
traditions and what has happened to them. "The Museum of the
American Indian," she says " is a powerful place."

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VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Marilyn Christiano. It was produced
by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS
in VOA Special English.