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Indian Museum Aims For Digital Showcase

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The Washington Post

Published: February 1, 2009

WASHINGTON - Even with three locations in its empire, the National Museum of the American Indian can display barely 1 percent of its 800,000 objects. To help close that gap, the museum has decided to set up a digital showcase.

On Monday, the museum plans to launch its "Fourth Museum" to give scholars, students, teachers, cultural historians and those far away from the museum's homes in Washington and New York the opportunity to look into its archives.

The move has been in the works for nearly three years as staff re-examined each item and its scholarship. The online project, part of the museum's regular Web site at www.nmai. si.edu, will begin with 5,500 items and photographs. The goal is to have all 800,000 objects on the Web site, but it will take at least four years to achieve that.

"Most Americans will never see the Smithsonian, and Native Americans aren't any different," said Kevin Gover, the museum's director. "This Web site has always been part of our long-term strategic plan. Quite simply, given we know most native people will never visit any of our three museums, ... we wanted to provide this experience."

So now the historian or descendant of the Kalaallit can study a harpoon head resembling a polar bear, made around 1880 by a member of those Greenland Inuit. It was probably collected during Robert E. Peary's Arctic expedition in 1891-92 and since 1929 has been in the archives that preceded the museum.

"We started with objects where we were sure the information was accurate," said Ann McMullen, chief curator of the project.

As a result, they are putting up items from recent exhibitions and the most-requested ones: pictures of the Sioux chiefs Red Cloud and Sitting Bull, and of Geronimo, the Chiricahua Apache leader. Also popular are photographs of groups of Indian men who came to Washington early in the 20th century to petition the government. In the first phase, there are 500 photographs, with links on how to purchase reproductions.

Getting more of the Smithsonian collections to the public through technology is a particular goal of the new secretary, G. Wayne Clough.

"This is a happy coincidence," Gover said. "We were relieved he thought it was a good idea." The museum has raised $750,000 for the first four years of the project, and Gover said a deadline has not been set for the Fourth Museum completion.

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