05/27/2026
🚨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.
