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Donate With Check: Please make checks out to: The Mitchell Museum of the American Indian Address: The Mitchell Museum of the American Indian 3001 Central St Evanston, IL 60201 |
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The Cambridge Dictionary defines museums as “places of study, buildings where objects of historical, scientific or artistic interest are kept, preserved and exhibited”. A museum is also an institution which collects documents, preserves, exhibits, and interprets material culture and associated information for the public benefit. But museums are so much more. Museums enable all of us to explore and experience; for inspiration, learning, and enjoyment. They are institutions that collect, safeguard and make accessible art and artifacts, objects, ephemera and the evidence of the lived experiences of other human beings. The museum is a contact zone – a space of sharing, learning and listening. Eyes open, we hear the artists and their works speak to us. The importance of museums also lies in their role as a community and nation’s memory bank. It is our heritage. It is the American Experience. We at the Mitchell Museum hold this responsibility to act in the public trust as sacred. We recognize the profound opportunity to change the way people think about Native peoples, communities and artistic effort; to dispel stereotypes and celebrate lives. The museum represents American Indians but it is also a portal to the values that we, as Americans, cherish - diversity, understanding, respect, and multiculturalism. Cultural institutions like the Mitchell Museum bring a richness to the regions they serve. Speakers and guests, teachers and students, craftspeople and novices, artists and patrons, amateur historians, anthropologists and culturalists and their credentialed counterparts, school groups, families, grandparents and grandchildren, and visitors from around the area, nation and world mingle in this venue. Without the Mitchell Museum, opportunities for interaction and understanding not yet even fully calculated will cease to be possible. Unlike other ethnic museums, the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian represents one of the poorest and smallest groups of US citizens - American Indians. Unlike other ethnic museums, the Mitchell Museum cannot rely on the financial contributions of the peoples it proudly represents. The Mitchell Museum depends on the financial support of others more capable of supporting this museum. The value of the museum is priceless - we only ask that others partner with us and share the opportunity to continue to fulfill our mission. John N Low Executive Director |
