The Land Has Memory

184 pp., 8 x 9.25, 100 illus., 1 table, appends., bibl., index

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8078-5936-0
Published: February 2009
E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-0-8078-8978-7
Published: February 2009
E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-8269-1
Published: February 2009

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In the heart of Washington, D.C., a centuries-old landscape has come alive in the twenty-first century through a re-creation of the natural environment as the region's original peoples might have known it. Unlike most landscapes that surround other museums on the National Mall, the natural environment around the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is itself a living exhibit, carefully created to reflect indigenous ways of thinking about the land and its uses.

Abundantly illustrated, The Land Has Memory offers beautiful images of the museum's natural environment in every season as well as the uniquely designed building itself. Essays by Smithsonian staff and others involved in the museum's creation provide an examination of indigenous peoples' long and varied relationship to the land in the Americas, an account of the museum designers' efforts to reflect traditional knowledge in the creation of individual landscape elements, detailed descriptions of the 150 native plant species used, and an exploration of how the landscape changes seasonally. The Land Has Memory serves not only as an attractive and informative keepsake for museum visitors, but also as a thoughtful representation of how traditional indigenous ways of knowing can be put into practice.

Published in association with the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution

About the Authors

Duane Blue Spruce (Laguna/San Juan Pueblo), an architect, served for ten years as the primary liaison between the museum and the architectural design and construction team. He currently works at NMAI's George Gustav Heye Center in New York.
For more information about Duane Blue Spruce, visit the Author Page.

Tanya Thrasher (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma), assistant head of publications, has worked at NMAI since 1998. She served on a project team dedicated to opening the museum on the National Mall.
For more information about Tanya Thrasher, visit the Author Page.

Reviews

"This book paints spectacular word pictures of a setting as old as the land, which lovingly embraces the everlasting life-giving spirits within and without. It contains powerful stories of historic proportions, of honor, of revered gifts, and of the triumphant human spirit epitomized in the National Museum of the American Indian."--Henrietta Mann, president, Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal College

"The built environment surrounding the National Museum of the American Indian complements the interior of the museum, which reflects many of the communities--animate and inanimate--the museum represents. The Land Has Memory is a triumph, capturing the beauty and complexity of the Native Universe and the intimate relationship between Native Americans and the plants, places, and peoples that share the natural world. The book captures the power and spirit of place in Native American cultures, past and present."--Clifford E. Trafzer, Rupert Costo Chair, University of California, Riverside, and coeditor of Native Universe: Voices of Indian America