Today we went to the museum of American
Indians which wasn't very good compared to the museum of natural history which was four floors that had everything more native American artifacts and human
origins, ocean life, mammals from
Africa and the
Americas which was a lot better than this little crappy museum that didn't really have all that much. There were some dresses of how they dressed for war, ones that the men made and the women and ones for the
children but over all it didn't explain very much. We saw the Statue of Liberty, and got our pictures taken with it which was really cool. Did a little shopping got some New York sweat shirts. But glad that we didn't really do all that much today
because we did a lot of walking at
Gettysburg. Gettysburg was a lot of fun. I got to go up and climb on the rocks and I thought that was a lot of fun also got some pic sitting on the rocks at big round top. Taylor
I totally agree. I was disappointed when I went to the Native American Museum in D.C. last year. I thought "Ive seen way cooler things at home on our reservation!" Just a different perspective, I guess.
ReplyDeleteThere is no museum better than the Museum of Natural History. There are so many awesome things to see there! I love the meteor room and the Hope Diamond.
I have not been to either museum, but in 1991 I did visit American Indian interns at the "original" Smithsonian location in DC before the NMAI was built. I saw some very interesting artifacts not on display, and several of the interns' projects were very intriguing. Most disturbing was having to pass through hallways lined with storage racks of boxes and boxes of Indian bones.
ReplyDeleteNotably, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) of 1990 returned certain Native American cultural items -- human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony - to lineal descendants, culturally affiliated Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations. That might help explain your recent experiences at both the New York and DC museums.
BTW: The "Comic Art Indigène" exhibit in D.C. looks really interesting to me. Kyle's dad was crazy over comic art. I wonder if they are also selling "comic" books there.
P.S. Any of you heading for college and have an interest in native cultural studies and/or education should check out internship at http://www.americanindian.si.edu
P.S.S. And also check out the other Smithsonian internships at http://intern.si.edu/
Lots of them. By subject they include:
•Art
•History and Culture
•Libraries, Archives, and Preservation
•Professional Services (e.g. Horticulture, Zoo, Photography, Management/Administration)
•Science and Research