WASHINGTON – Congress recently passed a bill to commemorate the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian by minting a new silver dollar designed as a replica of the famous buffalo nickel, circulated in the early part of the 20th century.
Surcharges from coin sales will supplement the museum’s endowment and educational outreach programs.
“Once again the buffalo will provide for the American Indians,” said Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., who introduced the bill in the Senate.
“This bill not only revives a popular coin, but helps fund the newest national museum. It is a way for our past to provide for our future.”
The original buffalo nickel was minted from 1913 to 1938 and also bears an Indian profile on one side of the coin. In 1911, the Secretary of Treasury chose artist James Earle Frazer, best known for his “End of the Trail” sculpture, to design the new nickel. In 1931, Frazer said he used Indian models for the profile and Black Diamond, a buffalo in the New York City Zoo, as a model for the buffalo.
The bill authorizes the minting of up to 500,000 $1 silver coins in 2001. They are intended for collection rather than general circulation.
Sales of the coin could net up to $5 million for the museum. The bill is expected to be signed by the president.
The National Museum of the American Indian was established in 1989 by an act of Congress to “advance the study of Native Americans, including language, literature, history, art, anthropology and life and of collecting, preserving and exhibiting Native American objects of artistic, historic, literary, anthropological and scientific interests.”
In 1999, ground was broken for the museum’s main building on the capital. The five floors of the museum will house a vast collection of Native American artifacts from the United States, Canada, and Central and South America.
Much of the museum’s current holdings comprise the donated collection of the late New York tycoon George Gustav Heye.
The building will span four acres and will be covered with Kasota limestone from Minnesota, symbolizing cliffs, with a large copper dome designed to capture the light of the winter and summer solstices. The museum is scheduled to open in 2003.
The museum currently has two locations, the George Gustav Heye Center in lower Manhattan which opened in 1994, and a large cultural resources center in Suitland, Md., just outside Washington, which opened two years ago.
It is anticipated the new museum will draw five million to seven million visitors a year on completion.
W. Richard West, museum director, praised those in Congress who worked for passage of the bill.
“This support demonstrates Congress’ continuing strong commitment to the National Museum of the American Indian.”
While Congress appropriated two-thirds of the costs of construction, funds are still being raised through major grants and public fund-raising to complete the museum project.
Individuals, both Indian and non-Indian, and tribes have contributed. In 1994, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation in Connecticut contributed $10 million, the single largest tribal contribution to date.
