We appreciate your patience as we update this page.
For more information please contact:
Dakota Brown
828-497-3481, ext. 1012
All exhibits, restrooms, Museum Store, and Education Wing are ADA accessible. Service animals are permitted. Handicapped parking available in front of entrance.
This dance group brings to life the Cherokee War Dance and Eagle Tail Dance as described by Lt. Henry Timberlake in 1762. They are designated as official cultural ambassadors by the Tribal Council of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and are sponsored by the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. They have performed at Colonial Williamsburg, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Berlin, Montreal, London, England and throughout the Southeast.
Museum of the Cherokee Indian Press has operated since 1976. Journal of Cherokee Studies was its first publication, and was also the first peer-reviewed journal dedicated to a single tribe. Since then it has published more than a dozen books, a DVD, and an audio book.
The Museum of the Cherokee Indian will help with starting your research on genealogy. Many people claim a Cherokee ancestor from the Removal era, about 1830. To trace Cherokee ancestry, we recommend the following resources and individuals who will conduct research. Reach out to our Museum Genealogist Robin Swayney.
The Museum provides a free information packet for educators and selected lesson plans.
In 2006 the Museum of the Cherokee Indian received a grant for “Documenting Endangered Languages” from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Barbara R. Duncan, Ph.D. was the Principal Investigator.
The Museum worked with the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and the National Anthropological Archives to digitize more than 9,000 pages of documents in Cherokee language and about Cherokee language. Most of the documents were collected by James Mooney on the Qualla Boundary in the 1880s, with the help of Will West Long and James Blythe.
About 2500 pages of these documents are available on the Museum’s website. Go to the Archives and search “Documenting Endangered Languages.”
One of the goals of the project was to translate these digitized materials, but this proved very difficult. To help with the translation process, the Museum developed a chart showing several different versions of the syllabary. One of these is “cursive” syllabary.
A chart from 1853 showed the cursive syllabary then in use. John Standingdeer found this chart when he was doing research at the National Museum of the American Indian. Barbara Duncan worked to match the syllables with the printed chart, and Joyce Cooper formatted the syllables.
During the project, the Museum solicited the opinion of Cherokee elders about these materials. Their consensus was that materials about medicinal formulae should not be made public. The Museum has followed the wishes of the elders.