National Museum of the American Indian Act

National Museum
of the American Indian Act

Long title	National Museum of the American Indian Act
Acronyms (colloquial)	NMAI
Enacted by	the 101st United States Congress
Citations
Public law	Pub.L. 101–185
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate by Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) on May 11, 1989 Committee consideration by United States Senate Committee on Rules, United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Passed the Senate on October 3, 1989 (voice vote) Passed the House as the H.R. 2668. House struck all of the Senate bill after the enacting clause and inserted in lieu thereof the provisions of H.R. 2668 on October 13, 1989 (without objection) with amendment Senate agreed to House amendment on October 14, 1989 (voice vote) Signed into law by President George H. W. Bush on November 28, 1989
Major amendments
National Museum of the American Indian Act Amendments of 1996, Pub. L. 104-278, October 9, 1996

The National Museum of the American Indian Act (NMAI) was enacted on November 28, 1989, as Public Law 101-185. The law established the National Museum of the American Indian as part of the Smithsonian Institution. The law also required the Secretary of the Smithsonian to prepare an inventory of all Indian and Native Hawaiian human remains and funerary objects in Smithsonian collections, as well as expeditiously return these items upon the request of culturally affiliated federally recognized Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations.

The NMAI expands the Smithsonian Institution by authorizing erection of a new museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to house Native American artifacts from the Heye Foundation's Museum of the American Indian. As part of a legal compromise regarding the Heye Foundation's New York state charter, the George Gustave Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian was also created by the NMAI in the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in New York City.

The purpose of the NMAI is threefold:

Prior to enactment of the NMAI, representatives of the Native American Rights Fund and the Association for Native American Affairs told Congressional staffers that they would oppose the bill if repatriation provisions were not included. At an August, 1989, meeting in Santa Fe, NM, Secretary of the Smithsonian Robert McCormick Adams, Jr., agreed that the Smithsonian would abide by new repatriation provisions. As a result of the law, the Secretary of the Smithsonian is required to inventory Indian and Native Hawaiian human remains and funerary objects in the possession or control of the Smithsonian Institution and return them upon request by a descendant or culturally affiliated Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization. These items are housed primarily in the National Museum of Natural History, National Museum of the American Indian, and National Museum of American History.

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