VOICE ONE:
This is Mary Tillotson.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program,EXPLORATIONS. Today we tell about plans for the new Museum of theAmerican Indian. It will open in two-thousand-four near the Capitolbuilding in Washington, D.C.
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VOICE ONE:
“This museum is being given birth, not being planned … The landwhere it will sit has a spirit … This museum has to be connected notonly to us, but to our children.” These are the words of a HopiIndian talking about the new National Museum of the American Indian.The building is rising along the National Mall in the center ofWashington, D.C.
The museum is to be a gathering place for living cultures. Itsgoal is to save, study and show the life, languages, history andarts of the Native people of North, Central and South America.
The most important words in the museum’s goal are “livingcultures.” Museums usually are storehouses of objects from the past.Museum experts and scientists are responsible for explaining anddescribing objects in the museums.
This museum will show American Indian objects from the past, andalso from the present. The explanations about the meaning andimportance of the objects will be provided by Native people. Membersof these living cultures are playing an important part in creatingthe new museum and deciding what will be shown to the public and howit will be shown.
VOICE TWO:
Richard West has been the director of the Museum of the AmericanIndian since nineteen-ninety. He is a member of the southernCheyenne tribe. Mister West says the museum will show the success ofNative people in keeping their way of life and overcoming pressuresagainst them. He says it “will be a place to show and tell the worldwho we are and to use our own voices in the telling.”
Building the museum in the very heart of the nation’s capitalrepresents a kind of cultural justice. It is considered a sign of along delayed cooperation between people whose ancestors came tothese shores and people who were already here.
VOICE ONE:
The National Museum of the American Indian contains abouteight-hundred-thousand objects. They are from the collection of oneman, American businessman George Gustav Heye (HIGH). He spent thefirst fifty years of the last century gathering American Indianobjects to create one of the largest collections in the world. Thematerial he collected from the far northern Arctic Circle to thesouthern tip of South America has great artistic, historic andcultural meaning.
In nineteen-twenty-two, the Heye Foundation opened a privatemuseum in New York City to show the collection. However, the museumhad space to show the public only a small part of the collection.The foundation did not have enough money to expand the museum or tocorrectly care for the huge number of objects being stored. Afteryears of negotiations, agreement was reached to make the HeyeFoundation Museum of the American Indian part of the SmithsonianInstitution. Congress passed legislation approving the move inNineteen-Eighty-Nine.
In nineteen-ninety-four, the George Gustav Heye Center of theNational Museum of the American Indian opened in the old CustomHouse in New York City. It is one of the most visited museums in NewYork. It will continue to offer major exhibits and public programs.
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VOICE TWO:
Thomas Sweeney is the head of public relations for the NationalMuseum of the American Indian. He says tribal representatives fromthe United States, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America wereasked for their ideas about the new building. Their suggestions wererecorded in a guide called “The Way of the People.” They said thebuilding needed roundness, light and open space, natural materials,water and plants.
The finished design includes all this. The building will coveronly about twenty-five percent of the two hectares of land thatsurrounds it. It will fit into the setting on the Mall, yet showtraditional American Indian values. The outside wall is made ofdifferent size blocks of gray limestone. It looks like waves ofstone. The wall seems to flow as if formed by wind and water. Glasswindow areas extend the length of the stone wall to provide lightand a connection between inside and out.
VOICE ONE:
The main entrance to the building faces east, like the doorway ina traditional American Indian home. The building will be surroundedby trees like those from a local hardwood forest and a grassy areacalled a meadow. Native American crops – beans, corn and squash –will be grown.
Water will be very much a part of the building’s surroundings. Itwill flow over and around some huge rocks and continue down to asmall, round lake area. The rocks are called grandfather rocks. Theyshow the respect of Native Americans for ancient things that existedin the area long before people arrived.
VOICE TWO:
Visitors to the museum will enter a large central circular space.It has a rounded top more than thirty-three meters up that issimilar to the dome of the nearby Capitol building. This area iscalled Potomac, which in the native local language means, “placewhere the goods are brought in.”
Live demonstrations like canoe building, story telling, music,and dance will take place here. The public will be able toexperience the living traditions and skills of Native people.
VOICE ONE:
The exhibition areas are called Our Universes, Our Peoples andOur Lives. Our Universes explores Native peoples’ theories about theworld around them and their spiritual worlds. It will containobjects and stories to educate visitors about the values and beliefsof eight different native cultures.
In Our Peoples, twelve different Native communities will presenttheir tribal histories. They will choose the objects, pictures,songs and other materials from the museum’s collections to tellabout their past and their present.
Our Lives will examine the differences among Native cultures. Itwill look at relationships in the family and community.
VOICE TWO:
The new Museum of the American Indian will have two theaters. Inthe performing arts theater, three-hundred people will be able towatch Native dance theater and other performances. The other theaterwill show a film explaining the museum.
Hungry visitors will be able buy food at the Mitsitam(MIT-zi-tom) Café, whose name in the local Indian language means,”Let’s eat.” Handmade Native arts and crafts, books and games willbe sold in the museum’s gift shop.
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VOICE ONE:
Another important part of the National Museum of the AmericanIndian is the Cultural Resources Center. It opened innineteen-ninety-eight in Suitland, Maryland, near Washington, D.C.
The Heye collection is being moved from the place where it isstored in New York City to the new center. In preparation for thefive-year move, museum employees began to develop a record of thecondition and description of everything in the collection.
The Cultural Resources Center is designed to honor the wishes ofNative people about how they want the objects cared for andprotected. Native and non-Native people can do research there. Andtraining will be given to people who work in tribal museums.
VOICE TWO:
The resources building itself shows a Native desire to connectarchitecture to the environment. The roofline and the walls suggestforms commonly found in nature such as a spider web, a butterflywing and a shell.
Thomas Sweeney says the resources center helps both tribalcommunities and museum employees. Tribal members visit the center toshare their stories about the meaning and use of tribal objects.These stories educate non-Natives, sometimes correcting theoriesdeveloped years ago by collectors and non-tribal people.
VOICE ONE:
One of the most important parts of the new National Museum of theAmerican Indian is called the Fourth Museum. This is not a physicalstructure. It is the Community Services office, a link between themuseum and Native communities throughout North and South America.
Native people have been employed to work with individuals,communities and organizations to develop museum programs. They arecreating travelling exhibits, educational materials and an InternetWeb site. The address is www.americanindian.si.edu.The National Museum of the American Indian will use these to informpeople around the world about the living native cultures of theAmericas.
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VOICE TWO:
This Special English program was written by Marilyn Christianoand produced by Caty Weaver. This is Steve Ember.
VOICE ONE:
And this is Mary Tillotson. Join us again next week for anotherEXPLORATIONS program on the Voice of America.