Mid-America All-Indian Center facts for kids
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| Established | 1976 |
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| Location | 650 North Seneca Street, Wichita, KS 67203 USA |
The Mid-America All-Indian Center is a special museum in America. It teaches people all about the history and culture of Native Americans. You can find this museum along the Arkansas River in the Riverside neighborhood of Wichita, Kansas. It's the only place in Kansas totally focused on American Indian culture.
Contents
Discovering Native American Culture
The Mid-America All-Indian Center is a place where you can learn and explore. It works as a cultural center and a museum. Its main goal is to teach everyone about Native American heritage. It also helps keep this important history safe for the future.
What You'll See at the Museum
The museum has many amazing things to see. It holds the largest public collection of art by Blackbear Bosin. He was a famous artist from the Kiowa and Comanche tribes. His art includes sculptures and paintings.
Other cool items in the collection include:
- Beautiful beadwork
- Special pipe bags
- Unique jewelry
- Handmade pottery
- Woven baskets
The museum also has a big collection of art from Alaska Natives. This art is from the mid-1900s. In a special area called the Gallery of Nations, you can see flags from over 70 different American Indian tribes.
The Museum's Journey Through Time
The Mid-America All-Indian Center first opened its doors in 1976. At first, it was a cultural center that also helped the Native American community with social services. One of the people who helped start it was Betty Nixon. She was a talented Kiowa artist.
Facing Challenges and Finding Solutions
By 2005, the museum was having some tough times. It had financial problems and some items from its collection were missing. To help save the center, the city of Wichita stepped in. The city temporarily closed the museum to help fix things.
The museum got a loan from the city to pay its bills. They worked hard and paid back the loan in just two years! The city and the museum also worked together to save money. They made the staff smaller and simplified some programs.
Getting Organized and Moving Forward
City officials also made sure to check every item in the museum's collection. Everything was recorded, photographed, and put into a computer database. This helped them keep better track of everything. Good news: all the missing items were found!
Today, the Mid-America All-Indian Center is doing well. It welcomes about 40,000 visitors every year. It also earns money by renting out its spaces for events. The museum is a cultural hub for the 10,000 American Indians living in the Wichita area. These people come from 72 different tribes!
The center hosts many cultural events, like powwows. They also hold fundraisers throughout the year. Two of their biggest events are the Benefit Car Show in the spring and the Culture Dash in the fall. These events help support the museum and its important work.
