Show Me the Wampum
Controversy at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian.
Categories: Featured Travel Stories , History
By: TW Editors 04/01/2008
New Zealand, Greece, Australia, Sweden, Spain, Italy, France and London are not normally places one would seek out some Native American culture.
That’s the case The Washington Post made last year when it criticized the approved travel expenses of W. Rick West. He spent more than $250,000 traveling to places such as these during his four years as the inaugural director for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in Washington, D.C.
West, a Cheyenne and Arapaho tribal member, also helped raise $155 million in private funds for the museum and $51 million during the travel period the Post scrutinized.
West resigned last August. His travel and
plush accommodations have led to demands for Congressional investigations, but West also has
his defenders.
“West did what he was supposed to do: create a new museum about living indigenous peoples, raise money, train a good staff and build academic connections—all of which required travel,” Roger G. Kennedy, director emeritus of the National Museum of American History and former director of the National Park Service, wrote for the Post.
In January, West confronted his accusers in Indian Country Today. He wrote that his trips were geared to help NMAI build a model based on innovative institutions that represented indigenous people across the world and to fulfill a Congressional mandate that the NMAI ”have a ‘new’ collaboration with Indian Country,”?which required “consultations with native peoples throughout the Americas.”
An internal Smithsonian audit released in February showed 19 executives spent far less, averaging $1,300 per trip to West’s $3,520 average in 2007. Acting Secretary Cristian Samper says spending was not the norm for West
because he played such a critical role in the opening of the museum.
Like they say, you have to hob-nob with the elite to raise money out of them. Even so, let’s hope the NMAI has learned how to tighten the reins on the travel wampum.
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