Heard Museum

Puppet Collection - Cachina ( Pueblo Indians)

Participants in the 2005 World Indian Dance Championship with a hoop .

Heard Museum of Native Cultures and Art is located in Phoenix , Arizona , USA . The branches of the museum are located in Scottsdale and Enterprise are also in Arizona. The museum is dedicated to the heritage and ethnography of the cultures of the Indians of the United States, especially the Southwest region ( pueblo , navajo , etc.).

The museum was founded in 1929 by Dwight B. Heard and Mary Bartlett Heard (Dwight B. and Maie Bartlett Heard) for his personal art collection. Most of the Native American finds in the Heard collection were found during excavations of the ruins of La Ciudad and were acquired by them in 1926 ^[1] .

Currently, the museum's collection consists of more than 40,000 exhibits, as well as a library and archive in more than 34,000 volumes. On an area of 12,000 m² there is a gallery, classroom and an arena for performances.

The museum has, in particular, the following expositions:

• South West Indigenous Life
• Marina Allen Nichols Collection: 260 Contemporary Jewelry
• A collection of 437 historical dolls - Kachin, which was collected by the famous politician Barry Goldwater
• An exhibition on the history of the education of Indian children in boarding schools in the 19th century with a view to their "Americanization". As the New York Times wrote , the exposition perfectly “reflects the little-known experience of thousands of children who were displaced, sometimes forcibly, from their reservations to government schools in order to eradicate their culture and“ civilize ”them. Impressive photographs, an old school uniform, interview records and memorabilia give a wonderful idea of ​​this chapter of history ” ^[2] .

The museum annually, usually in November, holds the Spanish Fair. Every year in February, the museum organizes an international competition of national Indian Indian hoop dance . The most famous festival is the annual Spring Indian Fair, which has been held since the late 1950s.