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Southwest Museum of the American Indian

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Coordinates: 34°06′01″N 118°12′21″W / 34.1004°N 118.2059°W / 34.1004; -118.2059
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Southwest Museum
Southwest Museum from Sycamore-Grove Park
Location234 Museum Dr
Mt. Washington, Los Angeles, California
Coordinates34°06′01″N 118°12′21″W / 34.1004°N 118.2059°W / 34.1004; -118.2059
NRHP reference No.92001270
LAHCM No.283
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMarch 11, 2004
Designated LAHCMAugust 29, 1984

The Southwest Museum of the American Indian is a museum, library, and archive located in the Mt. Washington area of Los Angeles, California. It is part of the Autry National Center. Its collections deal mainly with Native Americans. However, it also has an extensive collection of pre-Hispanic, Spanish colonial, Latino, and Western American art and artifacts.

Major collections include rooms devoted to 1) American Indians of the Great Plains, 2) American Indians of California, and 3) American Indians of the Northwest Coast.

Public transportation is available, such as the Metro Gold Line, which stops down the hill from the museum at the Southwest Museum station. About a block from the Gold Line stop, there is an entrance on Museum Drive that opens to a long tunnel formerly filled with dioramas, since removed by the Autry Museum and stored in an undisclosed location. At the end of the tunnel, there is an elevator that ascends to the lower lobby of the Museum. Parking is available up the driveway in a large lot level with the upper section of the Museum with a spectacular view of the area.

History

Charles Fletcher Lummis was an anthropologist, historian, journalist, and photographer who created the Southwest Society, which was the western branch of the Archaeological Institute of America. He gained the support of city leaders, and with the financial backing of attorney Joseph Scott and opened the Southwest Museum in 1907. The museum moved from Downtown Los Angeles to its current location in Mt. Washington in 1914, and has been there ever since.

The 1914 building was designed by architects Sumner P. Hunt and Silas Reese Burns. Later additions to the museum include the Caroline Boeing Poole Wing of Basketry (completed 1941), by architect Gordon B. Kaufmann, and the Braun Research Library (1971), by architect Glen E. Cook.

Frederick Russell Burnham, the highly decorated military scout and father of the international scouting movement, was an early president.[1]

Current Status

The building is currently being used for conservation work of the collection. One gallery is open to the public on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with events and exhibitions also taking place on other parts of the campus. Autry has been conserving and moving most of the collection to a new state-of-the-art home in Burbank.[2] Following years of controversy with the Friends of the Southwest Museum and other local community organizations, the Autry began a partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the City of Los Angeles to develop a long-term plate for the site. On January 22nd, 2015 the Southwest Museum was designated a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.[3][4]In January 2016, an exhibition of contemporary artwork opened in the building's tunnel entrance[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ Dan L. Thrapp (1991). Encyclopedia of frontier biography. University of Nebraska Press. p. 195. ISBN 0-80329-418-2.
  2. ^ Boehm, Mike (December 18, 2009) Southwest Museum of the American Indian store is closed Los Angeles Times
  3. ^ Morris, Chris (January 22, 2015) "National Treasure Designation Officially Announced in Los Angeles" Press Release National Trust for Historic Preservation
  4. ^ Boehm, Mike (January 22, 2015) "National preservation trust tabs Southwest Museum a national treasure" Los Angeles Times
  5. ^ Autry Museum of the American West [1]


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