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Visit To A Cultual Institution

On Sunday February 24th 2008, three of my friends and I visited the George Gustav Heye Center of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian. This institution is located on the first and second floors of the historic Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House at One Bowling Green, next to the Battery Park in lower Manhattan. This is the second museum of its kind that is located in New York City. The first was opened in 1923 and was located on 155th avenue between Broadway and Amsterdam. According to a long time security guard and New York native Mr. Ron Doman, the original museum was much bigger and presented information on all the indigenous tribes that occupied our continent. However, the new and current museum that was opened in 1994 lacks most of the original artifacts and is mostly based on beauty and art. It celebrates the creativity of Native Americans and explains how the different objects on display connected the many communities, lands, customs and ancestors.  
    There are eleven tribes that were represented in this exhibition and they lived along the north pacific coast and extended all the way to parts of Washington State, up into Canada, through British Columbia and into Alaska. The tribes include the Haida, Tlingit, Nisga'a, Gitxsan, Tsimshian, Nuxalk, Heiltsuk, Kwakwaka'wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth, Makah and Coast Salish. The different sections focused on several categories. They include, The Elegance of Presentation, Design of Identity, Recreation and Past Times, Containing Culture, Nurturing Identity, The Power of Transformation, The Tools of Existence, Communication through Sound, Expression of Movement and Honor and Respect. Although the communities of the North Pacific have much in common, each has its own unique language, identity, history and beliefs.
    The elegance of Presentation deals mostly with adornment which is an expression of community and self identity. Items such as headbands, hats, jewelry and other accessories...