American Museum of Natural History Research Library
author: American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History. Hall of Plains Indians.; Indians of the Plains; Plains Indians Hall; Plains Hall; Indians of the Plains Hall; Plains Indian Hall; Plains Indians; Eastern Woodlands-Plain Indians Hall; Eastern Woodlands-Plains Indians; Hall of Eastern Woodlands and Plains Indians; Hall of Indians of the Woodlands and the Plains; Indians of the Eastern Woodlands/Indians of the Plains; Indians of the Plains; Hall of the Indians of the Plains; Eastern Woodlands and Plains Indians; Hall of Indians of the Plains; Hall of Plains Indians
birth: 1906
death: 2024 January 27
Permanent exhibition. Opened approximately 1906. Located on Floor 1, Section 6 from 1906 to 1963 and Floor 3, Section 4 from 1964 to 2024. On January 27, 2024 the hall was closed to allow the Museum to assess the impact of new federal regulations regarding the display of indigenous North Americans' cultural artifacts.
The Hall of Plains Indians at the American Museum of Natural History highlights the life of nineteenth century Hidatsa, Dakota (Sioux), Cheyenne, Arapaho, Crow, and other Native American peoples of the North American Plains (1, 1906, p. 19; 2, 1911, p. 21; 2, 1962, p. 10; 2, 1964, p. 33; 3) and ethnological objects of clothing, pipes, bead and quillwork. Alongside the Hall of Eastern Woodlands Indians, the Hall of Plains Indians moved and was redesigned from approximately 1963 to 1967, reopening in February 1967. Clark Wissler was an early curator and the renovation was overseen by curator Stanley A. Freed and Joseph Guerry of the Exhibition Department (1, 1960/61, p. 25; 1, 1966/67. p. 18).
The Hall of Plains Indians has featured exhibits on the Cree, Dakota (Sioux), Siksika (Blackfoot), Mandan, Pawnee, Kiowa, Cheyenne, Gros Ventre, Arapaho, Hidatsa, Omaha, (Kaw) Kansa, Iowa, and Assiniboine (2, 1911, p. 21-23; 2, 1916, p. 31; 3). The hall features oil paintings by George Catlin, including Osage Chief and Two of his Warriors and A Dog Feast of the Sioux (2, 1913, p. 29; 2, 1916, p. 31). On view were also a Blackfoot (Siksika) Tipi and miniature groups, which included scenes depicting Blackfoot Squaw, Child Traveling with Travois, and A Bull Boat or Coracle of the North Dakota Plains Indians, and a Hidatsa earth lodge (1, 1925, p. 71; 2, 1939, p. 127; 2, 1953, p. 168).
The hall was redesigned as a part of the centennial exhibition expansion program. The hall reopened in February 1967, shortly after the new Hall of Eastern Woodlands Indians (1, 1961/62 p. 5-6; 1, 1966/67 p. 4). It exhibits some of the same models and clothing from the previous version of the hall as well as the Hidatsa earth lodge. Exhibits on bison, traditional homes, military and ceremonial societies, weapons, games, and agricultural tools are featured. The hall also includes a Blackfoot (Siksika) group performing a Thunder Pipe ceremony in a tipi (3; 1, 1992/93, p. 16).