Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Santa Fe (must see)

The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture is a museum of Native American art and culture located in Santa Fe. It is one of eight museums in the state operated by the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs and is accredited by the American Association of Museums as part of the Museum of New Mexico system. The museum and its programs are financially supported by the Museum of New Mexico Foundation. Anthropologist Edgar Lee Hewett founded the Museum of New Mexico in 1909 with a mission to collect and preserve Southwestern Native American material culture. Several years later, in 1927, John D. Rockefeller founded the renowned Laboratory of Anthropology with a mission to study the Southwest's indigenous cultures. In 1947 the two institutions merged, bringing together the most inclusive and systematically acquired collection of New Mexican and Southwestern anthropological artifacts in the country.

The Laboratory's collection continued to expand but was largely unavailable to the general public for lack of adequate exhibition facilities. In 1977, the New Mexico legislature appropriated $2.7 million for the design of a new Museum of Indian Arts & Culture. The MIAC opened ten years later in 1987. Object collections at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture include typological collections of Southwestern textiles, pottery, baskets, jewelry, contemporary art, and artifacts chronicling the everyday life of New Mexico's long period of human habitation.

The Museum has the responsibility to care for and maintain all artifacts excavated on state-owned land. Its Archaeological Research Collection contains artifacts numbering between 5 and 10 million.

The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm. During the summer months, from Memorial Day through Labor Day, the Museums are also open Mondays from 10am-5pm. The Museum is closed on New Year’s Day, Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day holidays.