Indigenous woman to lead Smithsonian American Indian museum

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An Indigenous New Mexico woman has been named to lead the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.

Cynthia Chavez Lamar will be the first Native American woman to serve as the museum’s director when she takes over Feb. 14. She’s currently the acting associate director for collections and operations.

Chavez Lamar is an enrolled member at San Felipe Pueblo and an accomplished curator, author and scholar whose research has focused on Southwest Native art.

The museum’s collection includes more than 1 million objects and photographs and more than 500,000 digitized images, films and other media documenting Native American communities, events and organizations.