While I was in Washington D.C. for the American Library Association meetings I was able to attend a tour of the National Museum of the American Indian with other librarians from across the country. If any of you have been on a tour at the museum you'll know that every tour is different, but this group of librarians was extremely lucky because we had an amazing tour. Our tour guide's name was Demelza and she took us to one of their special exhibits first.
Right now the museum is showing a beautiful collection of Native American dresses in an exhibit called Identity by Design: Tradition, Change, and Celebration in Native Women's Dresses. Demelza walked us though the collection giving us great detail on the construction of the dresses, the types of
materials used and how these materials changed over time, as well as the symbolism and the traditions associated with the dresses on exhibit. A tour at the National Museum of the American Indian typically lasts forty-five minutes to an hour and I think we kept her just over the hour because all of us were loving the tour so much.
She only had time to touch on the museums permanent exhibit, but the detailed tour she shared with us was well worth the time spent in the room. I would highly recommend this exhibit to all of you and you can enjoy it with out ever leaving home - if you have an internet connection, that is. Much of the exhibit is online with beautiful images of the
dress and information about Native American lives and the history of Native Americans that these dress tie into. Their website also has a video about the Native American Code Talkers.
We have a lot of books, both fiction and non-fiction, about Native American life at the library. I've scattered just a few through this article.
Elizabeth
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