Describes the 1991 "West as America" exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American Art, which sought to expose the complicity of art in maintaining a glorious national history while ignoring the dark side. Discusses the consequent controversies and the role of the museum as temple versus forum. (SV)

Traces the historical relationship between Native Americans and cultural institutions such as museums through three stages: objectification of native peoples themselves as cultural artifacts, interpretation of native cultures on the basis of Eurocentric standards and from the viewpoint of the "vanishing native," and development of…