National Museum of the American Indian

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve
Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Today we tell about the National Museum of
the American Indian which opens this week in Washington, D.C.

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VOICE ONE:

The National Museum of the
American Indian is opening with six days of events celebrating
Indian culture. The events begin on Tuesday with a Native Nations
Procession. About fifteen thousand people from North, Central and
South America are expected to walk along the National Mall and
gather for the museum's opening ceremony. Many will be wearing
traditional Native clothing. During the week, more than three
hundred performers and artists will present music, dance and
storytelling as part of the First Americans Festival.

The new National Museum of the American Indian is part of the
Smithsonian Institution, a group of museums operated by the
government. It was built on the last open space on the Mall, between
the Air and Space Museum and the United States Capitol.

But the National Museum of the American Indian is more than
another museum in Washington. It is a gathering place for living
cultures. Its goal is to save, study and show the life, languages,
history and arts of the Native people of North, Central and South
America. One thousand Native communities are represented.

VOICE TWO:

The most important words in the museum's goal are "living
cultures." This museum shows American Indian objects from the past
and also from the present. Native people provide the explanations
about the meaning and importance of the objects. Members of these
living cultures played an important part in creating the new museum.
They also decided which objects to show to the public and how they
should be shown.

Visitors can see more than seven thousand objects in the new
museum. Some of them are more than ten thousand years old.

VOICE ONE:

These are some of the objects
visitors can see in the new Museum of the American Indian: Wood and
stone carvings and face coverings from the northwest coast of North
America. Clothing and head coverings made of animal skins and
feathers from the North American plains. Clay pots, woven baskets
and silver jewelry from the southwestern United States.

The collection also includes ancient objects from the Native
peoples of the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and South America.

These include ceramic containers from Costa Rica, Mexico and
Peru. Beautifully carved jade objects from the Olmec and Maya
peoples. Woven cloths and gold objects from the Andean cultures.

VOICE TWO:

The objects are shown in three permanent exhibits. Through these
objects, twenty-four Native communities tell their own stories of
who they are. The exhibits are called "Our Universes," "Our Peoples"
and "Our Lives." "Our Universes" explores Native peoples' theories
about the world around them and their spiritual worlds. It contains
objects and stories that tell about the values and beliefs of
different Native cultures.

In "Our Peoples," several Native communities present their tribal
histories. They have chosen the objects, pictures, songs and other
materials to tell about their past and their present.

"Our Lives" examines the modern history of several Native
communities through their cultural, social and political beliefs.

VOICE ONE:

Richard West has been the director
of the Museum of the American Indian since nineteen ninety. He is a
member of the Southern Cheyenne tribe. Mister West says the museum
will show the success of Native people in keeping their way of life
and overcoming pressures against them. He says it "will be a place
to show and tell the world who we are and to use our own voices in
the telling."

Mister West said the museum would not avoid addressing the
troubles in American Indian communities since the arrival of
colonial powers five hundred years ago. These include broken
treaties with Indian tribes, the capture of Native lands and the
killing of Native Americans. They also include the poor living
conditions on reservations where many Native Americans live today.

Experts say building the museum in the very heart of the nation's
capital represents a kind of cultural justice. It is a sign of a
long-delayed cooperation between the people whose ancestors came to
this country and the people who were already here.

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VOICE TWO:

The National Museum of the
American Indian owns about eight hundred thousand objects. They are
from the collection of one man, American businessman George Gustav
Heye. He spent the first fifty years of the last century gathering
American Indian objects. He created one of the largest collections
in the world. He collected objects from the far northern Arctic
Circle to the southern tip of South America. These objects have
great artistic, historic and cultural meaning.

In nineteen twenty-two, the Heye Foundation opened a private
museum in New York City to show the collection. However, the museum
had space to show the public only a small part of the collection.
The foundation did not have enough money to expand the museum or to
correctly care for the huge number of objects being stored.

After years of negotiations, an agreement was reached to make the
Heye Foundation Museum of the American Indian part of the
Smithsonian Institution. Congress approved the action in nineteen
eighty-nine.

In nineteen ninety-four, the George Gustav Heye Center of the
National Museum of the American Indian opened in the old Custom
House in New York City. It is one of the most visited museums in New
York. It will continue to offer major exhibits and public programs.

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VOICE ONE:

Thomas Sweeney is the head of public relations for the new
National Museum of the American Indian. He says tribal
representatives from the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central
and South America were asked for their ideas about the design of the
new building. They said the building needed roundness, light and
open space, natural materials, water and plants.

The finished design of the museum includes all this. It is
beautiful and unusual. It looks like no other building in
Washington. The museum covers only about twenty-five percent of the
two hectares of land that surrounds it. It fits into the setting on
the Mall, yet it shows traditional American Indian values.

The outside wall is made of different size blocks of sand-colored
limestone. It looks like waves of stone. The wall seems to flow as
if formed by wind and water. Glass window areas provide light and a
connection between inside and out.

VOICE TWO:

The main entrance to the museum faces east and the rising sun,
like the doorway in a traditional American Indian home. About thirty
thousand trees and plants native to the area surround the building.
The grounds recreate four traditional environments of Native
peoples: A hardwood forest. Lowland freshwater wetlands. Eastern
grassy meadows. And traditional croplands where beans, corn and
squash will be grown.

Water is very much a part of the building's surroundings. It
flows over and around rocks. There are more than forty huge rocks
from Canada called Grandfather Rocks. They show the respect of
Native Americans for ancient things that existed in the area long
before people arrived.

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VOICE ONE:

Visitors to the National Museum of the American Indian enter a
large central circular space. It has a rounded top more than
thirty-three meters high that is similar to the dome of the nearby
Capitol building. This area is called Potomac, which in the Native
local language means "where the goods are brought in."

Live demonstrations like boatbuilding, storytelling, music, and
dance will take place here. The public will experience the living
traditions and skills of Native people.

VOICE TWO:

One of the most important parts of the new National Museum of the
American Indian is called the Fourth Museum. This is not a physical
structure. It is the Community Services office, a link between the
museum and Native communities throughout the Americas.

Native people have been employed to work with individuals,
communities and organizations to develop museum programs. They have
created traveling exhibits, educational materials and an Internet
Web site. The address is americanindian.si.edu. The National Museum
of the American Indian will use these to inform people around the
world about the living Native cultures of the Americas.

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VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Marilyn Christiano and Shelley
Gollust. It was produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for THIS IS
AMERICA in VOA Special English. We leave you now with a Lakota Sioux
Indian song, "Heart is Sad, The Morning Song."