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Online Exhibits

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African Voices
This new permanent exhibition in the National Museum of Natural History explores the continent of Africa and its people. Drawing upon the museum's vast collections, as well as commissioned sculptures, textiles and pottery, this exhibition examines the historic diversity, dynamism and global influence of Africa's peoples and cultures.

Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People
Over the centuries, the Ainu have mainained their sense of what being Ainu means through beautiful craftsmanship, a rich oral tradition, and complex rituals. This exhibit is the first to celebrate both the contemporary expression of Ainu ethnicity and the experiences of the Ainu past.

Benedicte Wrensted: An Idaho Photographer in Focus
The remarkable photography of Benedicte Wrensted (1859-1949) lay in obscurity for decades until brought to light by the detective work of a Smithsonian anthropologist while researching photographs for the Smithsonian's Handbook of North American Indians.

The Canela Indians of Northeastern Brazil - Explore the daily life, artifacts, environment, and ritual life of the Canela people, with whom emeritus curator BillCrocker has conducted anthropological fieldwork since the 1950s.

Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge
The indigenous heritage of Alaska and adjacent regions is woven from the arts, knowledge, values, and beliefs of many cultures. Explore Smithsonian collections with Native tradition bearers and learn about the peoples of this northern world.

Agayuliyararput, Our Way of Making Prayer / Yu'pik Masks
During 1996, 1997 and 1998 an amazing exhibit of Southwestern Alaskan culture and art toured the United States. Developed jointly by a team of native Yup'ik people, researchers and museum professionals, Agayuliyararput or "Our Way of Making Prayer" was the first exhibit to bring Yup'ik masks and ceremonial materials to a wide audience in their native context.

Crossroads of Continents: Cultures of Siberia and Alaska - The rugged and remote lands and waters of the North Pacific are not at all like the barren wastelands described by early European explorers and cartographers. For at least the past 16,000 humans have adapted to the harsh climate of the region, making a bountiful living from the abundant natural resources of Bering Strait. Crossroads of Continents celebrates the wide diversity and common ancestry of these North Pacific cultures, providing an entirely new understanding of the peoples on both sides of Bering Strait.

Dread History: The African Diaspora, Ethiopianism, and Rastafari - Like the Garvey Movement and other forms of pan-Africanism before it, the Rastafari fashion their vision of an ancestral homeland through a complex of ideas and symbols known as Ethiopianism, an ideology which has informed African-American concepts of nationhood, independence, and political uplift since the late 16th century.

Expeditions - 150 Years of Smithsonian Research in Latin America - Expeditions celebrates the Smithsonian's pioneering contribution to the study and preservation of the natural history and cultures of the Americas, and offers a window on the complex and rich relations among scientists of the hemisphere. Nearly 100 artifacts, photographs, original documents and rare books originally exhibited at the Inter-American Development Bank’s Cultural Center Gallery are presented on this bilingual site.

Looking Both Ways: Heritage and Identity of the Alutiiq People of Southern Alaska
"What does it mean to be Alutiiq?" The answer flows from history, values, traditions, and spiritual beliefs; from the bonds of family and language; and from lives lived close to the land and sea.

Red Cloud's Manikin and His Uncle's Shirt - Examines photographs of early manikins representing Plains Indians in the Smithsonian Institution during the 1870s.

Royal Gifts from Thailand - The symbolic exchange of gifts between Thailand and the United States established a bond between two very different nations and sealed a friendship that endures to this day.

Smithsonian Olmec Legacy - The Smithsonian Institution and the National Geographic Society co-sponsored eight expeditions to Mexico to explore archaeological sites in Veracruz, Tabasco and Campeche between 1939 and 1946. This website tells the story of these archaeological expeditions and some of the later fieldwork as well. It also provides an overview of the Department of Anthropology's Olmec archaeological collections, and the related manuscript and photographic material which is housed in the National Anthropological Archives and the Smithsonian Institution Archives.

Textiles of the North American Southwest - Explores the weaving traditions of the American Indianand Hispanic residents of the North American Southwest, one of the most important centers of handwoven textile production in the world. Over thepast 2000 years, weavers in this region havecreated a wide variety of textiles that express, in both design and technique, the changing circumstances of their lives and the extensive flow of ideas across cultural frontiers. The weavings presented here, drawn from the extensive textile collections of the Smithsonian Institution, testify to the skill and creativity of these weavers and to the dynamism of their weaving traditions.

Tichkematse, A Cheyenne at the Smithsonian
This exhibit tells the story of a Cheyenne Indian working for the Institution between 1879 and 1881

Unmasking the Maya: the Story of Sna Jtz'ibajom
A Maya cooperative named Sna Jtz'ibajom has given a new voice to the people of Chiapas, Mexico.

Vikings: The North Altantic Saga - 1000 years ago, Leif Eriksson became the first European to reach North American soil. This exhibit illuminates the origins and impact of this pivotal moment in history, shedding light on the Vikings and their expansion across the Atlantic from Scandinavia.

Written in Stone: Inscriptions from the National Museum of Saudi Arabia - In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, inscriptions were etched, engraved, pecked, or even sometimes carved in bas-relief on stones or on the rock-faces of cliffs and hills. This online exhibit features 54 museum objects which bear examples of ancientepigraphy.

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Online Exhibitions from the National Anthropological Archives

Camping With the Sioux: Fieldwork Diary of Alice Cunningham Fletcher

Canela Body Adornment - This exhibit features photographs of northeastern Brazil from the William H. Crocker collection.

Squint Eyes: Artist & Indian Scout

Drawing the Western Frontier: The James E. Taylor Album

Henry Wood Elliott: An American Artist in Alaska

Kiowa Drawings - This exhibit gives an extensive overview of ledger drawings by Kiowa Indians.

Lakota Winter Counts - This exhibit illustrates how Lakota historians depicted memorable events in their communities between 1701 and 1905.

Selections from the Field Journal of William Duncan Strong (Honduras, 1933)

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