American Indian launches its “4th Museum”

This week, the National Museum of the American Indian launched a new site for searching its collections. This new resource includes over 5000 objects from its 800,000-plus collection, and will continue to grow.  Eventually, it will be one of the largest Native American collections online. You can visit this site at www.AmericanIndian.si.edu/searchcollections. The launch is a milestone in the museum’s “Fourth Museum” project to bring the collections to those who may not have the opportunity to visit the museum’s three buildings in New York City, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.  According to museum director Kevin Gover, “As the museum on the National Mall approaches its fifth anniversary, our promise to reach out to tribal communities, schools, libraries, museums… throughout the world is being realized.  Though we have a long way to go before completing this project, I am pleased to offer the first phase of our fourth museum–our museum without walls.”