EVENTS – Breckenridge History and History Colorado present “Americans”
Breckenridge History and History Colorado present “Americans” as part of the Museum on Main Street program to bring exhibitions and programs to rural cultural organizations
Breckenridge History and the surrounding community has been chosen by History Colorado to host “Americans” as part of the Museum on Main Street program—a national/state/local partnership to bring exhibitions and programs to rural cultural organizations. The exhibition will tour 5 communities in Colorado through July 5, 2026.
The exhibition from the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street and the National Museum of the American Indian explores how deeply intertwined American Indians are in the history, popular culture and identity of the United States.
Based on a major exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., “Americans” highlights the ways in which American Indians have been part of the nation’s identity since before the country began. Images of American Indians are everywhere, from imagery on commercial products and professional and high school sports mascots, to classic Westerns and episodes of Seinfeld and South Park. Indian names are everywhere too, from state, city, and street names to the Tomahawk missile. Beyond these images and names are familiar historical events and stories—Thanksgiving, Pocahontas, the Trail of Tears and Battle of Little Bighorn—that have become part of everyday conversation.
Through photographs, hands-on interactives, objects, and videos, the exhibition offers a new way of understanding a country forever fascinated, conflicted and shaped by its relationship with American Indians.
A short, animated film, The Invention of Thanksgiving, provides a whimsical take on how a simple meal shared between Native Americans and early English settlers evolved into a central part of America’s traditional origin story and a national holiday.
The exhibition examines three stories that are part of American national consciousness and popular culture. The first is devoted to Pocahontas, the young Powhatan woman who played a key role in saving the colony of Jamestown. Another story explores the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Signed by President Andrew Jackson, the act envisioned a United States without Indians. One of the boldest and most far-reaching laws in American history, removal transformed the country—generating great wealth for the nation and catastrophe for Native Americans. The third looks at the complicated story of the Battle of Little Bighorn, also known as Custer’s Last Stand. “Americans” explores how these events have been remembered and represented throughout the years.
The exhibition title is a play on words and nods to the name originally given to this country’s Indigenous inhabitants by Europeans. It is meant not only as a reminder of the primacy of American Indians in the territory known as the United States but also of the tangled relationship between Indians and the people now called Americans.
With support from History Colorado, Breckenridge History will host Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Member Mark Wing for a special program, Americans Reflections
Thursday, Jan. 22 at 6 pm
at the Breckenridge Welcome Center Museum. This talk will be free and open to the public.
Wing is a respected member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, known for his involvement in youth programs, cultural leadership (like giving blessings at state meetings), and connection to traditional Ute ways. Wing is a cattle and horse rancher in Towaoc, on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation, and is the Culture Specialist in the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Historic Preservation Office. He is also the Sun Dance chief for the Bannock Creek Shoshone of Fort Hall, Idaho, and the Vice President of the Native American Church for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and State of Colorado.
He previously served as an Educator at Kwayigut Community Academy, a Project Manager at Moguan Behavioral Health, and a Youth Advocate in The Montezuma-Cortez School District RE-1. Wing is Bear Dance Chief at the yearly spring Ute Bear Dance and is a youth mentor in his community.
Support for “Americans” is provided by the Smithsonian’s Our Shared Future: 250, a Smithsonian-wide initiative commemorating the nation’s 250th. Signature support for Smithsonian’s Our Shared Future: 250 has been provided by Lilly Endowment Inc.
Get to Know MoMs & Breckenridge History
MoMs
MoMS is a collaboration of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service | Smithsonian Affiliations and state partner organizations. It serves museums, libraries and historical societies in rural areas, where about one-fifth of all Americans live. The partnership brings exhibitions, educational resources and programming to small towns across America. MoMS has visited all 50 U.S. states as well as Guam and inspired over 1,900 towns to rediscover their local histories while finding a renewed sense of community pride. Visit online at museumonmainstreet.org
Breckenridge History
Breckenridge History is a nonprofit organization that conducts preservation work in town and the surrounding area, operates free museums, and provides guided experiences. In 2026, Breckenridge History will celebrate its 20th anniversary. The Breckenridge Welcome Center Museum will also host exhibits focused on celebrating the America 250/Colorado 150 anniversaries through a local lens. This includes the Spirit of ’76 exhibit which will examine the 1976 bicentennial in Breckenridge.
Breckenridge Welcome Center Museum
- 203 S. Main St., Breckenridge, CO 80424
- Open daily, 9:30 am to 4 pm
- 970-453-9767 ext. 1
- www.BreckHistory.org
History Colorado
- 1200 Broadway, Denver, CO 80203
- Open daily, 10 am to 5 pm
- 303-447-8679
- www.HistoryColorado.org
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