The National Museum of the American Indian is the sixteenth museum of the Smithsonian Institution. It is the first national museum dedicated to the preservation, study, and exhibition of the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of Native Americans. The museum's extensive collections encompass a vast range of cultural material-including more that 800,000 works of extraordinary aesthetic, religious, and historical significance, as well as articles produced for everyday, utilitarian use. The collections span all major culture areas of the Americas, representing virtually all tribes of the United States, most of those of Canada, and a significant number of cultures from Middle and South America as well as the Caribbean.

The National Museum of the American Indian comprises two additional facilities, in Maryland and New York, each designed following consultations between museum staff and Native peoples. For information about the other two locations, see Visitor Information.