Collections at the Interior Museum
The Interior Museum preserves artifacts and documents related to the history of the Department and the architecture of the 1930s Main Interior Building. The Interior Museum began collecting in 1936 and now has approximately 5,000 objects. The collection contains 1,500 North American Indian artifacts, over half of which are baskets.
![Collections at the Interior MuseumEskimo snowglasses ivory.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20080917110239im_/http://www.doi.gov/interiormuseum/images/eskimoglass.png) |
Eskimo snowglasses ivory. |
These were contributed by private donors who collected in the Southwest, California, and to a lesser extent the Northwest, and the Plains. The Interior Museum also has 1,500 items made in the United States insular areas of American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Republic of Palau. Most of the artifacts are handicrafts such as storyboards, dolls, and baskets, that date from the 1940s to present time.
![Palauan storyboard.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20080917110239im_/http://www.doi.gov/interiormuseum/images/storybrd.png)
The Story of Surech (Part 2)
Palauan storyboard
Artist: Ngiraibuuch Skedong
1960s
The bright, bold forms dramatize the story of Surech and Tulai, two lovers whose loyalties to each other and their chief ultimately lead to their tragic deaths.
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