Associate Curator
National Museum of the American Indian
Emil Her Many Horses is an associate curator in the office of Museum Programs at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the Oglala Lakota nation of South Dakota and is an expert on Northern and Southern Plains cultures. Her Many Horses is an accomplished beadwork artist and was the winner of the “2001 Best of Show” category at the Northern Plains Tribal Art Show in Sioux Falls, SD for his tribute to the Lakota Sioux Vietnam Veterans.
Her Many Horses, served as the lead curator for the inaugural permanent exhibition at the NMAI on the National Mall, “Our Universes: Traditional Knowledge Shapes Our World.” This exhibition focuses on indigenous cosmologies—worldviews and philosophies related to the creation and the order of the universe—and the spiritual relationship between humankind and the natural world.
Established in 1989, through an Act of Congress, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian is an institution of living cultures dedicated to advancing knowledge and understanding of the life, languages, literature, history and arts of the Native peoples of the Western Hemisphere. The museum includes the National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall, the George Gustav Heye Center, a permanent exhibition and education facility in New York City and the Cultural Resources Center, a research and collections facility in Suitland, Md. For more information about the museum, visit www.AmericanIndian.si.edu.