Southwest Museum of the American Indian

Historic Southwest Museum Mt. Washington Campus
Museum building as seen from Sycamore Grove Park
Map
Former name
Southwest Museum of the American Indian
Established1907 (1907)
Dissolved2022 (2022)
Location234 Museum Drive
Los Angeles, California
Coordinates34°06′01″N 118°12′21″W / 34.1004°N 118.2059°W / 34.1004; -118.2059
FounderCharles Fletcher Lummis
ArchitectSumner Hunt
Public transit accessA LineSouthwest Museum
Websitetheautry.org/visit/mt-washington-campus
Built1912–1914
Architectural styleMission/Spanish Revival
NRHP reference No.92001270
LAHCM No.283
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMarch 11, 2004
Designated LAHCMAugust 29, 1984

The Southwest Museum of the American Indian was a museum, library, and archive located in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States, above the north-western bank of the Arroyo Seco canyon and stream. The museum was owned, and later absorbed by, the Autry Museum of the American West. Its collections dealt mainly with Native Americans. It also had an extensive collection of pre-Hispanic, Spanish colonial, Latino, and Western American art and artifacts.

Major collections included American Indians of the Great Plains, American Indians of California, and American Indians of the Northwest Coast. Most of those materials were moved off-site.[1] The Autry and the Southwest Museum hold the second-largest collection of indigenous art and artifacts in the country, second to the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.[2]

The Metro A Line stops down the hill from the museum at the Southwest Museum station. About a block from the A Line stop is an entrance on Museum Drive that opens to a long tunnel formerly filled with dioramas, since removed by the Autry Museum and placed in storage. At the end of the tunnel is an elevator to the museum's lower lobby.

The museum closed permanently in September 2022.

History

Charles Fletcher Lummis, an anthropologist, historian, journalist, and photographer, created the Southwest Society, which was the western branch of the Archaeological Institute of America. He gained the support of city leaders, and with the financial backing of attorney Joseph Scott, opened the Southwest Museum in 1907. The collection was first exhibited in downtown Los Angeles' Pacific Electric building, then moved to the May Company building in 1908, and finally to the Mt. Washington site in 1914.[3]

The 1914 building was designed by architects Sumner P. Hunt and Silas Reese Burns.[4] Later additions to the museum include the Caroline Boeing Poole Wing of Basketry (completed 1941), by architect Gordon B. Kaufmann, and the Braun Research Library (1971), by architect Glen E. Cook.

Frederick Russell Burnham, the highly decorated military scout and father of the international scouting movement, was an early president.[5]

In 1993, Patrick Houlihan, the director of the museum from 1981 to 1987, was convicted on five counts of embezzlement and two counts of grand theft for selling or trading about 20 items from the museum's collection.[6] In a civil lawsuit, the museum alleged that Houlihan took 127 items worth an estimated $2.2 million.[7]

In 2003, the financially teetering museum was absorbed by the Autry Museum, which designated it as its Mt. Washington Campus.[8] The museum ceased operating full-time, and closed entirely in September 2022. The museum's collections were relocated to a new controlled environment facility, which opened in October 2022.[2]

Following years of controversy with the Friends of the Southwest Museum and other local community organizations, the Autry began a partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the City of Los Angeles to develop a long-term plan for the site. On January 22, 2015, the Southwest Museum was designated a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.[9][10] In March 2019, the Autry and the National Trust published a Request for Interest for the revitalization and reuse of the historic Southwest Museum campus and Casa de Adobe.[11] As of November 2022, the Autry is no longer seeking to renovate the building for use as a museum space, which would cost over $100 million, and is instead looking to sell the building.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Four Centuries of Pueblo Pottery". Autry Museum of the American West. May 10, 2016. Archived from the original on June 24, 2016. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c Vankin, Deborah (November 16, 2022). "L.A.'s Autry Museum spent 18 years moving 400,000 Native objects. That's just the start". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  3. ^ Burton, David (July 13, 2007). "Southwest Museum". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  4. ^ "Southwest Museum | Los Angeles Conservancy". www.laconservancy.org. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
  5. ^ Dan L. Thrapp (1991). Encyclopedia of frontier biography. University of Nebraska Press. p. 195. ISBN 0-80329-418-2.
  6. ^ Colker, David (May 22, 1993). "Ex-Museum Head Gets Jail, to Pay Restitution in Thefts". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  7. ^ Colker, David (March 11, 1993). "Ex-Director Convicted of Stealing Items From Museum : Embezzlement: He secretly sold or traded works from the Southwest's collection worth hundreds of thousands of dollars". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  8. ^ Boehm, Mike. "Amid an epic dispute over the future of L.A.'s Southwest Museum, a new report sees hope". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 10, 2017. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  9. ^ Morris, Chris (January 22, 2015) "National Treasure Designation Officially Announced in Los Angeles" Archived 2015-01-23 at the Wayback Machine Press Release National Trust for Historic Preservation
  10. ^ Boehm, Mike (January 22, 2015) "National preservation trust tabs Southwest Museum a national treasure" Los Angeles Times
  11. ^ "Request for Interest: Historic Southwest Museum Campus and the Casa de Adobe". Autry Museum of the American West. March 20, 2019. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
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