Five Civilized Tribes Museum

The Five Civilized Tribes Museum is a museum in Muskogee, Oklahoma that houses the art, history and culture of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole tribes. Housed in the historic Union Indian Agency building, the museum was opened in 1966.

The museum holds an extensive collection of traditional art by artists of the Five Civilized Tribes and has the world’s largest collection of Jerome Tiger originals.

The museum originates with the Da-Cot-Tah Indian Club, who began campaigning to use the Union Indian Agency building to house it in September 1951. In 1954, the club sponsored legislation, H.R. Bill No. 8983 by U.S. Representative Ed Edmondson, that petitioned the return of the building to the municipal government of Muskogee, Oklahoma.

The legislation was passed and signed by Dwight D. Eisenhower and the museum was incorporated on November 19, 1955. Two years later Marie L. Wadley became the first president of the museum. The building opened its doors as the Five Civilized Tribes Museum on April 26, 1966.

The Union Indian Agency Building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and was constructed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the 1870s to house the Superintendent of the Five Civilized Tribes. Until this point, each tribe had their own agency, except for the Chickasaws and Choctaws who shared one at Boggy Depot. The term, "Five Civilized Tribes", was coined around the same time as the opening of the consolidated agency building. The building was used for the offices and residence of the Indian Agency Superintendent and his family.

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