WASHINGTON – A $10 million donation from the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut should ease completion of the National Museum of the American Indian which hopes to open its doors here in just three short years.
The museum, under construction on the National Mall between the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument has been troubled by delays and financial obstacles.
“There will be no greater way for Indian people to tell their story to America and the world than through this monument to learning located next to the United States Capitol,” said Mark Brown, chairman of the Mohegan Tribal Council. “Our fellow Indian nations are answering the call and giving all that they can, monetary contributions as well as stories, objects and knowledge. We are very proud to join this project.”
The donation was announced and formalized during a signing ceremony in the hearing room for the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs with Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii, a longtime advocate for tribes and a sponsor of the museum’s founding legislation as host.
The ceremony was attended by members of the Mohegan Tribal Council, Connecticut’s Democratic Sens. Joseph Lieberman and Christopher Dodd, Rep. Robert Simons, R-Conn., Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence Small, and National Museum of the American Indian Director W. Richard West.
The contribution is the second $10 million gift the museum received. In 1994, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which also operates a successful casino in Connecticut, gave the first $10 million. At that time, it was the largest, single cash contribution in the history of the Smithsonian Institution.
The Mohegan Tribe has 1,450 enrolled members and was granted federal recognition in 1994. The Mohegan own 382 acres in Uncasville, Conn., where they operate the Mohegan Sun Casino, one of the nation’s most successful tribal casinos. The Mohegan also operate a museum of their own, established in 1931 and said to be the oldest tribal museum in the nation.
As a result of their casino’s success, the Mohegan returned a $2.2 million federal grant and other federal monies so those funds can be used by other federally recognized tribes in need.
“This action on the part of the Mohegan Tribe reflects and confirms, again, the willingness of the Native community to support, in substantial ways, the development of the National Museum of the American Indian,” West said.
The museum was established in 1989 through an act of Congress which mandated “an institution of living cultures dedicated to the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of the Native peoples of the Western Hemisphere.”
The museum includes the George Gustav Heye Center, a permanent exhibition and education facility in New York City, the Cultural Resources Center, a research facility in Suitland, Md., which houses the museum’s collections, and the National Mall museum scheduled to open in 2004.
Funding for the museum comes from a combination of public and private sources. The estimated cost for the building and opening of the museum is $219 million. Approximately $90 million of the $219 million must still be raised in federal and private funds. The museum originally was scheduled to open in 1998 but planning delays and financial shortfalls pushed the opening date to 2004.
As part of next year’s budget proposal, the administration has requested $30 million in federal appropriations. If this request is granted by Congress, combined with the contribution of the Mohegan, only $50 million would be needed to open the museum. This money will be used for the museum’s construction, exhibitions and public programs.
Approximately 6 million visitors are expected to tour the museum, which will have a curvilinear stone-faced facade intended to evoke canyons and natural places. Three permanent exhibition galleries will display the past and present stories of Native communities from throughout the hemisphere. A Native landscape representing original Indigenous plantings from the Southeastern region will surround the museum’s 4.25-acre site.
