Museum of the Plains Indian
A federal museum on the Blackfeet Reservation holds exceptional Northern Plains clothing, beadwork, painted hides, sculpture, and contemporary art.
Artwork inspired by Kevin Red Star
The museum brings together historic Northern Plains clothing, horse gear, weapons, household implements, baby carriers, toys, painted hides, beadwork, and quillwork. Read those objects as specific technical and social knowledge—not as anonymous decoration—and attend to the nation, maker, material, and use named on each label.
Contemporary Native sales exhibitions keep the visit from ending in the past. Compare how a present-day artist handles a material, motif, or public identity alongside the historic collection, while remembering that this federal museum stands on the Blackfeet Reservation and serves a different role from a generic national-park visitor center.
- Setting
- Blackfeet Reservation
- Collection
- Northern Plains Indian arts
- Allow
- 1½–2 hours
Quick guide
- Core lens
- Material, use, nation, and maker
- Closing move
- Historic collection beside a contemporary Native artist
Museum of the Plains Indian: begin with use and read attribution
- Begin with use
- Choose one garment, tool, or horse object and identify how material supports function.
- Read attribution
- Look for nation, maker, date, and collection history instead of flattening Plains cultures together.
- Compare techniques
- Set beadwork, quillwork, hide painting, and sculpture beside one another materially.
- Return to the present
- Finish with the current Native artists in the promotional sales exhibition.
Good to know
This DOI Indian Arts and Crafts Board museum is not an NPS site and does not accept Golden Passports. Historic Northern Plains material is displayed alongside current Native art sales exhibitions; hours are subject to change.
Notice these
- Blackfeet Reservation
- Northern Plains Indian arts
- Compare beadwork, quillwork, hide painting, and sculpture materially.