It's called "Indians at the Post Office" -- and no, it's not about Skins waiting in line to buy stamps.

The National Postal Museum, part of the Smithsonian Institute, has arranged an online exhibit in cooperation with the National Museum of the American Indian that spotlights and explains murals depicting Natives that were painted as part of the New Deal. Under the Section of Fine Arts, part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), artists, sculptors, and writers all over the United States were subsidized to create public works, and one of the most widespread legacies of this program is the countless murals that adorn the walls of U.S. Post Office buildings great and small. Indians at the Post Office includes works by and about Native Americans, and the depictions range from scenes of Native life to specific moments in history.

That history is of varying quality, of course -- telling "the Indian side of the story" in 1934 wasn't always a priority. One of the murals, "Indians Cede the Land," by George Melville Smith, shows Indians giving up their lands to an officer of the U.S. Cavalry with a smile and a handshake. Another, "The Scene Changes," by Ila McAfee Turner, seems to imply that forced removal of Indians and decimation of the buffalo population was a natural progression or even evolution. On the other hand, a number of the murals are by Native artists -- as one would expect, these paintings, informed by the artists' own experiences, give a more faithful depiction of Native culture.

Each of the paintings in the virtual exhibit is accompanied by a thorough, researched analysis that examines not only the composition but also the historical accuracy, calling out revisionism when it's present. While the paintings would be an incomplete or skewed history lesson if taken at face value, the essays clarify that these are not snapshots from U.S. history -- they are interpretations of it.

We've included a selection of the paintings and some brief extracts of the essays -- for the full, fascinating experience, visit npm.si.edu/indiansatthepostoffice.

Indians at the Post Office - Native Themes in New Deal-Era Murals
"There is much to be discerned about these post office murals from the 1930s and 1940s, and what they can tell us about the way we see, and have seen, the world." –Dr. Jose Barreiro, Assistant Director, History and Culture, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
http://npm.si.edu/indiansatthepostoffice/