Museum on Main Street

05/29/2026

05/27/2026

Be among the first to experience AMERICANS during a special sneak peek event on May 29 at 5:30 PM at the Highlands DO!zeum.

Developed by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, this thought-provoking traveling exhibition explores the many ways American Indian identities, histories, and cultures shape the United States.

The evening will also feature special guest Fred Nez Keams, a renowned Navajo (Diné) storyteller, flute maker, and musician, with indigenous music beginning at 6:30 PM.

AMERICANS is part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and state humanities councils nationwide. We’re honored to bring this powerful exhibit to our community.

05/27/2026

05/27/2026

📣 North Carolina—are you interested in hosting a Smithsonian traveling exhibition? Our colleagues at the North Carolina Humanities are accepting applications! Details below.

🚨New exhibit alert🚨

We are please to announce our 9th Museum on Main Street exhibition touring 2027-2028! We are currently accepting applications from communities interested in hosting this engaging exhibition. Learn more here: https://nchumanities.org/programs/smithsonian-exhibition-tours/

"Americans," a traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street and the National Museum of the American Indian, explores how deeply intertwined American Indians are in the culture of the United States.

American Indians are about 2 percent of the population, yet images of Indians are everywhere. From imagery on commercial products and professional and high school sports mascots, to classic Westerns and episodes of Seinfeld and South Park, we are surrounded by American Indian imagery. Indian names are everywhere too, from state, city, and street names to the Tomahawk missile.

The exhibition highlights the ways in which American Indians have been part of the nation’s identity since before the country began and offers a new way of understanding a few familiar events. Curated by Paul Chaat Smith (Comanche), "Americans" is based on a major exhibition at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC.

05/27/2026

05/25/2026

This was Ely S. Parker (Seneca). At the Confederate surrender at Appomattox in 1865, he was the highest-ranking American Indian in the Union Army, a lieutenant colonel. As General Ulysses S. Grant’s secretary, Parker drafted the terms of surrender. A popular story states that Confederate General Robert E. Lee, noticing that Parker was an American Indian, remarked, “I am glad to see one real American here.” Parker later recalled, “I shook his hand and said, ‘We are all Americans.’”

Plan your visit to Irving Archives and Museum (one of our Smithsonian Affiliates) to see our “Why We Serve: Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces” traveling exhibition. You’ll explore more stories of Native military involvement and Native American military service from its origins to the modern day.

This exhibition is organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in collaboration with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.



Photo by Mathew Brady, National Archives photo no. 529376

05/22/2026

“Spark! Places of Innovation” opens July 3 at the Museum of the Big Bend!

05/18/2026

05/11/2026

During World Wars I and II, hundreds of Native American servicemen from more than 20 tribes used their Indigenous languages to send secret, coded messages that enemies could never break. Known as code talkers, these men helped US forces achieve military victory in some of the greatest battles of the 20th century.

This photo shows Navajo Code Talkers during WWII, who created a code based on the complex, unwritten Navajo language.

“Why We Serve: Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces” developed by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and traveled by Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service honors the Native Americans who have served in the US military, often in extraordinary numbers, since the American Revolution. You can see it now through May 31 at Irving Archives and Museum.

📸: Photograph of Navajo Indian Code Talkers Henry Bake and George Kirk. National Archives and Records Administration 127-MN-69889-B.