---
kind: "section"
citation: "20 U.S.C. § 80q–1"
title: "20"
title_heading: "Education"
number: "80q–1"
heading: "National Museum of the American Indian"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/20/80q-1"
units:
  - "Chapter 3 — Smithsonian Institution, National Museums and Art Galleries"
  - "Subchapter XIII — National Museum of the American Indian"
---

# §80q–1. National Museum of the American Indian

- (a) **Establishment—** There is established, within the Smithsonian Institution, a living memorial to [Native Americans](/usc/20/80q–14.md?p=10) and their traditions which shall be known as the “[National Museum](/usc/20/80q–14.md?p=9) of the American [Indian](/usc/20/80q–14.md?p=7)”.
- (b) **Purposes—** The purposes of the [National Museum](/usc/20/80q–14.md?p=9) are to—
  - (1) advance the study of [Native Americans](/usc/20/80q–14.md?p=10), including the study of language, literature, history, art, anthropology, and life;
  - (2) collect, preserve, and exhibit [Native American](/usc/20/80q–14.md?p=10) objects of artistic, historical, literary, anthropological, and scientific interest;
  - (3) provide for [Native American](/usc/20/80q–14.md?p=10) research and study programs; and
  - (4) provide for the means of carrying out paragraphs [(1)](#b-1), [(2)](#b-2), and [(3)](#b-3) in the District of Columbia, the State of New York, and other appropriate locations.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 101–185, § 3, Nov. 28, 1989, 103 Stat. 1337.)