• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Carnegie Museum of Natural History

One of the Four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh

  • Visit
    • Buy Tickets
    • Groups of 10 or More
    • Visitor Information
    • Events
    • Dining at the Museum
    • Celebrate at the Museum
    • Event Venue Rental
    • Shop
    • Powdermill Nature Reserve
    • Join & Give
  • Exhibitions
  • Learn
    • Field Trips
    • Educator Information
    • Programs at the Museum
    • Bring the Museum to You
    • Guided Programs FAQ
    • Programs Online
    • Climate and Rural Systems Partnership
    • We Are Nature Podcast
  • Research
    • Scientific Sections
    • Science Stories
    • Science Videos
    • Senior Science & Research Staff
    • Museum Library
    • Science Seminars
    • Scientific Publications
    • Specimen and Artifact Identification
  • About
    • Mission & Commitments
    • Directors Team
    • Museum History
  • Tickets
  • Shop

Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians

November 17, 2023 by Erin Southerland

Tribal Museums Day and Promoting Indigenous Authors

by Amy L. Covell-Murthy 

The Association on American Indian Affairs (AAIA) celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2022, making it the oldest non-profit serving Indigenous Nations in the United States. Founded in 1922 to promote sovereignty and self-sufficiency by halting assimilation, termination, and allotment, the AAIA continues to advocate at a national level, while supporting grassroots level implementation of Tribal programs.

As part of our ongoing repatriation work at CMNH and as a member of AAIA, I attended the annual meeting in Shawnee, Oklahoma last week. I received training in the new regulations of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, met Tribal and Institutional representatives who share in the same work that I do, and learned more about how the AAIA is helping to educate and advocate. One thing I am excited to share is that the AAIA declared December 2-9, 2023 as the 2nd Annual Tribal Museums Days and has created an interactive map of where participating museums are located.   If you would like to visit a Tribal Museum in person, the closest to Pittsburgh is the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center in Salamanca, New York. While the museum might not be open on the weekend, you can support them through their online gift shop. 

slide above a stage that has a photo of four people and the words: Associtation on American Indian Affairs, Ink & Impact: Our Stories Make a Difference

At the meeting, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend an Indigenous author event called Ink and Impact: Our Stories Make a Difference, which featured Angeline Boulley, Kim Rogers, Andrea L. Rogers, and Sara Elisabeth Sawyer. During the Q&A an audience member asked how we could help spread the word about their amazing books and other Indigenous works. They offered quite a few suggestions, including ordering a set of books to donate to a local library or classroom. My sister happens to be a reading teacher in Franklin, PA, so as a donation to her classroom in honor of Native American Heritage Month (which is in November!) she’ll be receiving Boulley’s Firekeepers Daughter and Warrior Girl Unearthed, and Sawyer’s Anumpa Warrior: Choctaw Code Talkers of World War I, as well as a few other books by Louise Erdrich. Another suggestion was to use our social media platforms to not only elevate Indigenous authors, but to also promote Indigenous owned book sellers.

So…. I am happy to promote Green Feather Book Company of Norman, Oklahoma. They were present all week at the meeting selling the books featured at the event and other Indigenous works. They have an easy online ordering feature, and you can buy all four of these author’s book here along with many others. 

Remember, if you can’t buy a copy, it costs nothing to request to borrow them through your local library. This also benefits the authors and spreads the word. Happy Reading!

Amy L. Covell-Murthy (she/her) is Archaeology Collection Manager/Head of the Section of Anthropology.

Related Content

Celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2023

Staff Favorites: Dolls in the Museum’s Care

Bringing a Little O-Gah-Pah to Pittsburgh

Carnegie Museum of Natural History Blog Citation Information

Blog author: Covell-Murthy, Amy L.
Publication date: November 17, 2023

Share this post!

  • Share on Twitter Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook Share on Facebook
  • Share on Pinterest Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit Share on Reddit
  • Share via Email Share via Email

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians, Amy Covell-Murthy, anthropology, Science News

October 7, 2022 by Erin Southerland

Celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2022

by Amy L. Covell-Murthy

Indigenous Peoples’ Day is observed in the City of Pittsburgh concurrently with Columbus Day, and I would like to suggest some ways to observe the holiday for those who do not claim Indigenous heritage. In a state with no habitable federally recognized Indigenous land, Native people are all too often seen as existing only in the past. Although educating yourself on the Indigenous history of the region is an important part of observing the holiday, it’s also important to recognize that many First Nations people live, work, and play in the Greater Pittsburgh Area. Indigenous Peoples’ Day should not be a memorial, but a recognition of the important history and cultural heritage of those who are the past, present, and future caretakers of this land. Here are some things you can do to respectfully celebrate on October 10, 2022. 

Indigenous person holding a sign that says "We Are Still Here"

Educate Yourself

Learn about the people who have called Pittsburgh home. Many different cultural groups have occupied the Upper Ohio River Valley including but not limited to the Delaware/Lenape, the Haudenosaunee, the Shawnee, and the Wyandotte. The Osage Nation also claims origin in the Ohio River Valley, and you can learn about all these nations on their official websites. I also suggest hitting up your local library to check out books on these groups as well as the cultural traditions and ancestors who came before them. During a more distant time period, this region was home to those who are often referred to as the Adena, Hopewell, and Monongahela. But keep in mind, we have no idea what they called themselves.

Educate Yourself Some More

Learn about the history that may have been left out of your primary and secondary school curriculums. You may be unaware of the atrocities that Indigenous people faced in the State of Pennsylvania. Many First Pennsylvanians were forced from their homelands and infected with unfamiliar diseases by colonizers. Later the first assimilation school was created in Carlisle, PA. The school, which operated between 1879 and 1918, was used as a model for 24 more of these institutions whose primary goal was to force Indigenous children to abandon their Native languages and customs. In the 1960s, the building of the Kinzua Dam  on the upper Allegheny River forced Seneca Nation citizens to move into the State of New York, breaking the 1794 Treaty of Peace and Friendship. Indigenous communities thrive despite these events and institutions, but it is important to recognize and not try to hide these gruesome parts of our shared American history. You can find more information about these examples on the websites listed below.

Kinzua Dam Exhibit at Seneca-Iroquois National Museum

Smallpox information from Native American Heritage Programs

Carlisle Indian School Project

Support Local Indigenous Groups

The Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center is a regional intertribal nonprofit that promotes the socio-economic development of the Native American community and others who experience the same type of economic difficulties in the Greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area. One way to support them is to plan to attend their annual Pow Wow that is held just in Dorseyville, a suburb north of Pittsburgh, in late September. Learn more about the Center’s Early Childhood Education, Native American Elders, Veterans, and Employment programs on their website and Facebook page.

Honor the Land

Planting Native Pennsylvanian plants is a wonderful way to honor our connection to the Earth and to provide food and shelter for the diverse species who live here. You can learn about how Indigenous People use trees, ferns, flowers, vegetables, fruits, and grasses to enhance their quality of life. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania offer suggestions for those who are interested.

Attend an Online or In Person Event

Many cities around the United States hold events to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day. A quick Google Search can point you in the right direction. I’m going to be learning about incorporating Indigenous voices into K-12 curriculum from young Indigenous activists at the Smithsonian.  You can register to tune in to the National Museum of the American Indian at 1 p.m. on October 10th to attend this free webinar titled, Youth in Action | Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Transformative Teaching / Juventud en acción | Día de los Pueblos Indígenas: Enseñanza transformativa.

Support Indigenous Artists, Authors, Film Makers, and Musicians

You have so many options! The Sundance Institute has a version of its 2022 Indigenous Short Film Tour available to stream. It’s a 93-minute program featuring 6 short films. The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh website offers staff picks and lists of Indigenous authors. My favorite is a list of Indigenous Science Fiction from 2020 which is intended for adults, but they also have lists of Indigenous books for children and teens. The CBC  (Canadian Broadcast Corporation) released a list of Indigenous musicians to watch out for in 2022. Vogue featured 15 Indigenous Artists to watch out for from this year’s Santa Fe Indian Market. The list includes fashion designers, painters, beaded and metal jewelry designers, sculptors, and textile artists. You can also support Indigenous artists by purchasing art through the online gift shop of the Seneca Iroquois National Museum/Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center.   

Help Change Derogatory Mascots and Place Names

Sign petitions, attend community forums, and advocate for the changing of harmful stereotypes and offensive signage in our community.  From the Cleveland Guardians to Hemlock Hollow Road, there are many instances of this happening around us. The National Congress of American Indians offers a State tracker of schools with offensive mascots, and Pennsylvania has 45 districts and 113 schools in need of name or mascot change. The list has gone down by 2 schools over the past year!

Also, learn about the Haudenosaunee Nationals Lacrosse Team, who hope to make it to the 2028 Olympics! Learn about how they have recently changed their own name to reflect their collective identity.  

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by World Lacrosse (@worldlacrosse)

Consider Donating Time or Resources

The Seneca Iroquois National Museum/ Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center is only a few hours’ drive from Pittsburgh and occasionally may be looking for volunteers. Check their website and follow their social media accounts for more information.

If you are able, here are just a few organizations who can use your help:

Native American Agriculture Fund

NDN Collective

Association of American Indian Affairs

Advancing Indigenous People In STEM

So, join me in unlearning some Columbus Day myths and celebrating the cultural diversity of Indigenous People throughout the history of our region. Remember that the best places to start educating yourself are the local libraries and museums. Carnegie Museum of Natural History offers guided tours of our cultural halls that strengthen the messages we wish to share with the community. Visit the Alcoa Hall of American Indians to learn more about the Tlingit, Lakota, Hopi, and Haudenosaunee, and keep in mind that there are so many other Indigenous groups, traditions, nations, and organizations for you to explore on your own!

Amy L. Covell-Murthy is Archaeology Collection Manager at Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Related Content

An Indigenous Presence: Cultural Survivance and Contemporary American Indian Art and Design

A Trip to Grave Creek Mound

Pennsylvania Archaeology and You

Carnegie Museum of Natural History Blog Citation Information

Blog author: Covell-Murthy, Amy
Publication date: October 7, 2022

Share this post!

  • Share on Twitter Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook Share on Facebook
  • Share on Pinterest Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit Share on Reddit
  • Share via Email Share via Email

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians, Amy Covell-Murthy, anthropology, Science News

March 18, 2021 by wpengine

Center Court Culture Sharing

by Patrick McShea

In the final hour of a Saturday-long visit to the museum by a Kent State University class, a student who played high school basketball volunteered to read aloud to nine college classmates. “With that experience you’ll do a great job,” I explained as I handed her a paper bearing a single long paragraph, and then directed her toward a quiet corner of the exhibit hall to a practice the assignment.

While the majority of the 40-student class opted to spend the unscheduled block of time exploring the exhibits and visiting the museum shop, ten students had accepted my offer to guide them on a tour of the Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians.

The now 23-year-old exhibition is divided into quadrants with a different culture presented as a focal point in each, the Tlingit of the Northwest Coast, the Hopi of the Southwest, the Iroquois Nations of the Northeast, and the Lakota and their neighbors of the Great Plains. The twin themes of Native diversity and the continued vibrancy of Native cultures are repeatedly addressed in the hall’s displays. When I paused the group at the Lakota Winter Count display, and recruited the volunteer reader, I hoped to delve a little deeper into both themes.

photograph of a winter count on display in the museum

Winter counts are a method by which groups of Lakota People record and remember their history through pictographs on a tanned animal hide or sturdy cloth. Each year, after leaders review important events and agree upon the previous year’s most significant occurrence, a new entry is added to the unique document. A designated count keeper holds the responsibility to annually recite, in sequence, the story behind each pictograph, and thereby orally pass along the group’s history to a listening audience.

The Winter Count on display, which covers a period of 125 years for the Sicangu Lakota people on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, was created specifically for the exhibit by Dr. Thomas Red Owl Haukaas (Lakota/Creole). After summarizing the importance of winter counts for the students, I read aloud the artist’s explanation of his work from a nearby label: “My winter count is from a contemporary viewpoint. It purposely includes community and national events, men and women, fullbloods, and mixedbloods as an attempt to capture the richness and complexity of our tribe.”

close up of winter count showing animals drawn in black on off-white background

The mention of contemporary viewpoint provided the opportunity to introduce another, albeit non-Native one, author Ian Frazier’s description of high school basketball star SuAnne Big Crow in On the Rez, his 2001 account of life on the Pine Ridge American Indian Reservation.

I called back the volunteer reader and provided background for the description of an event that might be judged worthy of winter count commemoration. “The quote you’re about to hear is pulled from a considerably longer story. It describes how in 1988, SuAnne Big Crow, who was then a 14-year-old basketball player from the Pine Ridge Reservation, transformed the racially charged playoff game atmosphere during pre-game warm-ups at a school in Lead, South Dakota, a white town located outside the reservation. Her actions were brave, clever, defiant, desperate, and heroic – all at the same time.”

“Swish!” by Targuman is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

As someone who experienced the intimidating atmosphere of away basketball games, the volunteer brought an authentic voice to her task, confidently reading Frazier’s account of SuAnne dribbling as she led her team onto the court of the “deafeningly loud” high school gym. Her voice shifted to a slightly higher register, however, when the narrative departed from normal pre-game procedure.

Then she stepped into the jump-ball circle at center court, in front of the Lead fans. She unbuttoned her warm-up jacket, took it off, draped it over her shoulders, and began to do the Lakota shawl dance. SuAnne knew all the traditional dances – she had competed in many powwows as a little girl – and the dance she chose is a young woman’s dance, graceful and modest and show-offy all at the same time.

The reader’s calmer voice returned where the account quoted the impressions of SuAnne’s surprised teammates, then turned higher as the action continued.

SuAnne began to sing in Lakota, swaying back and forth in the jump-ball circle, doing the shawl dance, using her warm-up jacket for a shawl. The crowd went completely silent. ‘All that stuff the Lead fans were yelling – it was like she reversed it somehow,’ a teammate said. In the sudden quiet, all you could hear was her Lakota song. SuAnne stood up, dropped her jacket, took the ball from Doni De Cory, and ran a lap around the court dribbling expertly and fast. The fans began to cheer and applaud. She sprinted to the basket, went up in the air, and laid the ball through the hoop, with the fans cheering loudly now. Of course, Pine Ridge went on to win the game.

The reader earned a sincere round of applause from her classmates for her efforts. I, in turn, felt a rewarding sense of accomplishment when she asked to keep the now deeply creased paper in her hands.

Patrick McShea works in the Education and Visitor Experience department of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

Related Content

Museum Conservation: Cleaning the Kayak in Wyckoff Hall

A Steeler Prayer

Winter Wanderers on a Water Tower

Carnegie Museum of Natural History Blog Citation Information

Blog author: McShea, Patrick
Publication date: March 18, 2021

Share this post!

  • Share on Twitter Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook Share on Facebook
  • Share on Pinterest Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit Share on Reddit
  • Share via Email Share via Email

Share this post!

  • Share on Twitter Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook Share on Facebook
  • Share on Pinterest Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit Share on Reddit
  • Share via Email Share via Email

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians, anthropology, Pat McShea

May 24, 2018 by wpengine

American Eel

American Eel image rendered in glass beads and porcupine quills

For an image rendered in glass beads and porcupine quills, an American eel featured in Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians conveys a surprising amount of movement.

 

Clan Animal images created by Onondaga artist Lisa Thomas Boots

The snake-like fish, one of nine Clan Animal images created by Onondaga artist Lisa Thomas Boots, is positioned in a full-body
“S” curve, and seems capable of swimming out of its circular confinement with the next undulation.

Real-life movements of this widely -distributed species occur in both saltwater and freshwater, from spawning grounds in Sargasso Sea of the North Atlantic to historic feeding areas far up the river systems of the eastern North America.

The presence of small numbers of American eels in Pittsburgh’s rivers is described in a recent Pittsburgh Post-Gazette essay about fish migration.

To read the essay please visit: http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2018/05/13/The-Next-Page-Pittsburgh-below-the-waterline-Patrick-McShea/stories/201805130010

Filed Under: Blog, Core Exhibitions, Exhibitions Tagged With: Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians

April 17, 2017 by wpengine

Lakota Moccasins

white, blue, red, and brown beaded moccasin shoes
In the Lakota culture, women sometimes express affection for men and children by beading every surface of their moccasins. These beaded moccasins are on display in Alcoa Hall of American Indians at Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians, Deborah Harding, Native Americans

April 4, 2017 by wpengine

Bottle from early 1900s

Glass bottle covered in a brow and orange woven wrap with a geometric pattern on it
This bottle from early 1900s Tlinglit culture is made from glass and is covered in Sitka spruce root, grass, metal, and dyes. It is on display in Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians, Native Americans

  • Page 1
  • Page 2
  • Go to Next Page »

sidebar

About

  • Mission & Commitments
  • Directors Team
  • Museum History

Get Involved

  • Volunteer
  • Membership
  • Carnegie Discoverers
  • Donate
  • Employment
  • Events

Bring a Group

  • Groups of 10 or More
  • Birthday Parties at the Museum
  • Field Trips

Powdermill

  • Powdermill Nature Reserve
  • Powdermill Field Trips
  • Powdermill Staff
  • Research at Powdermill

More Information

  • Image Permission Requests
  • Science Stories
  • Accessibility
  • Shopping Cart
  • Contact
  • Visitor Policies
One of the Four Carnegie Museums | © Carnegie Institute | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Accessibility
Rad works here logo