National Museum of the American Indian
The National Museum of the American Indian, which opened on September 21, 2004, is an Institution in the United States launched by an act of the United States Congress in 1989, with the mandate to preserve, study, and exhibit on the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of Native Americans.
Operated under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institute, NMAI has locations in New York, Maryland, and Washington, DC. The collection of the former Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, in New York are consolidated under the Smithsonian Institute, and form the foundation of the collection. The New York collection is operated as The George Gustav Heye Center and is located in the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House on Bowling Green.
The Washington location of the NMAI is housed in a building designed by Douglas J. Cardinal.
The Director of the NMAI since 1990 is W. Richard West Jr., a Cheyenne and Arapaho lawyer from Oklahoma.
