Today in Smithsonian History: November 14, 1922

Putting first specimens in a display case in the Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation, 155th and Broadway, New York. From L: Mrs. Thea Heye, George Gustav Heye, and MAI trustee Harmon W. Hendricks.

November 14, 1922 The Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, is opened in New York City to showcase the collections of George Gustav Heye (1874 – 1957.)

Heye’s collection of more than one million Native American artifacts, gathered over the course of 45 years, became the basis for the National Museum of the American Indian. The collection was transferred to the Smithsonian in 1989.

Today, the National Museum of the American Indian–New York, the George Gustav Heye Center, is located within the historic Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in lower Manhattan. The museum’s permanent and temporary exhibitions—as well as a range of public programs, including music and dance performances, films, and symposia—explore the diversity of the Native people of the Americas.

The National Museum of the American Indian George Gustav Heye Center in New York City. (Photo by David Sundberg 2016)

Courtesy of National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center

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