Autry National Center

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Visit our Tour Destination: Southern California page to see the entire tour of the area’s Save America’s Treasures sites.

Exhibition of Native American baskets at the Autry National Center featuring
baskets from the collections of the Southwest Museum of the American Indian.
Photo courtesy of Autry National Center.

Autry National Center

The Autry in Griffith Park

4700 Western Heritage Way

Los Angeles, CA

Southwest Museum of the
American Indian, temporarily
closed while the collections
are conserved.
Photo courtesy of
Autry National Center.

Southwest Museum of the 

American Indian (temporarily closed)

The Braun Research Library (by appt. only)

234 Museum Drive

Los Angeles, CA

Website:  Autry

The Treasure:  The collections of the Southwest Museum of the American Indian (now a part of the Autry National Center) contain approximately 238,000 ethnographic and archaeological artifacts that exemplify the history and cultures of North America’s indigenous peoples.

Accessibility:  The Autry National Center in Griffith Park is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 to 4 and Saturday and Sunday from 11 to 5. The Braun Research Library on the Arroyo Campus is open to researchers by appointment only. The Southwest Museum of the American Indian is currently closed to the public due to ongoing conservation of the collections. Many of the conserved items have been digitized and the images are accessible at the Autry’s Collections Online.

Conserved headdress (Central Plains from mid-20th century)
from the Autry National Center.
Photo courtesy of Autry National Center

Background:  The Southwest Museum of the American Indian began amassing its enormous collections over 100 years ago. Their varied artifacts cover the cultures of peoples from areas such as the American Southwest, the Great Plains, the Colorado Plateau, the Great Basin, California, the Columbia River, and the Pacific Northwest Coast. Most scholars rank it second only to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in the size, scope, and importance of its Native American collections.

The vast collections include feathered headdresses, articles of clothing, moccasins, beaded bags, cradle boards, dolls, gourds, rattles, drums, bows and arrows, tomahawks, armament accessories, furs, hides, and various ceremonial items. Their basket collection—constituting more than 13,400 Native American baskets—is the largest in the world. Their Navajo and Pueblo textile collections are similarly impressive. Exhibitions at the Autry National Center frequently highlight key pieces from these collections.

The Southwest Museum of the American Indian merged into the Autry in March 2003. Since that time, the Autry has committed major resources to conserving and appropriately storing the Southwest Museum collections in order to ensure their long-term preservation. The temporary closure of the Southwest Museum was necessary in order to carry out the work of preservation.

Creating a support for a moccasin.
Photo courtesy of Autry National Center.

Conserved Hupa dance wand in the shape of a double fan,
made of carved wood.
Photo courtesy of Autry National Center.

Notes from the Editor:  It’s hard to single out just one item from 238,000, but here goes…  

David Burton, Director of the Autry Institute and Managing Director of “Native Voices at the Autry,” shared these images of an Inuit snow knife from Alaska. The Autry has several similar snow knives—sharpened bones that have been carved and engraved with detailed pictures of Inuit life and culture. But this particular snow knife is especially memorable because its engravings show mythical beasts that are graphically devouring people. The museum’s notes suggest that the depicted birds may be legendary tingmiakpuks (giant eagles) carrying off caribou.

Conserved Inuit snow knife made of engraved bone (early 20th century)
from the Autry National Center.
Photo courtesy of Autry National Center.  

And here’s a detail of the grisly scene:

Detail of the Inuit snow knife.
Photo courtesy of Autry National Center.

One yearns to hear the tale that must have inspired this work!

Snow knives, or pana, are generally utilitarian tools, very common in Inuit culture. According to a paper written by Mark Kalluak (1942-2012), an Inuit leader and educator, snow knives were frequently used for building igloos, hunting, or trapping. He writes, “Anyone could be in danger of perishing to death by weather exposure in the tundra without a snow knife.”

Chances are that a knife as beautifully decorated as this was made for more special occasions, perhaps ceremonial or storytelling. It’s a remarkable piece of art.

Now multiply that by 238,000 and you have some idea of the significance and scope of this Save America’s Treasures collection!

Other Recommended Sites:  With the creation of the Autry National Center in 2003, three museums were gathered together to create a major intercultural history center. We’ve briefly looked at the amazing collections of the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, but haven’t touched upon the complementary collections of the Autry Museum of Western Heritage and the Women of the West Museum. In uniting the three museums, the Autry National Center chose to focus on a central theme of the convergence of peoples and cultures in the American West.

The Autry has carved out four distinct programmatic initiatives to tell the complex story of the American West. “Western Resources” provides insights into the relationship between people and the Western environment, “Justice and Conflict” examines how the histories and myths of conflict have shaped the American West and the American nation, “The Imagined West” illuminates the effect the romanticized West has had on national culture and contemporary perspectives, and “Voices of Native America” shares the histories, cultures, and perspectives of indigenous peoples in Native voice, often drawing upon the artifacts of the Southwest Museum’s collections.

The Autry National Center is a big place with lots going on. There’s likely to be theater, music, family activities, and other special events. Check their calendar in advance and block out enough time to fully enjoy all they have to offer.

Artifacts from the Southwest Museum of the
American Indian collections currently stored
in de-installed Southwest exhibit galleries.
Photo courtesy of Autry National Center. 

Tour America's History Itinerary

Monday’s destination:  UCR/California Museum of Photography

© 2012 Lee Price