Francis, Lee

The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), the newest Smithsonian Institution museum, is dedicated to working in collaboration with the indigenous peoples of the Americas to protect and foster Native culturesthroughout the Western Hemisphere. The museum's publishing program seeks to augment awareness of Native American beliefs and lifeways, and to educate the public about the history and significance of Native cultures.

NMAI opened its George Gustav Heye Center in lower Manhattan in 1994. In 1998, the museum's Cultural Resources Center, a state-of-the-art research and storage facilit...