Enduring Heart: Native American Long Island

On view in the LIM Art Museum from August 20 through December 20, 2026

A celebration of the First Peoples of Long Island. Our Native American communities and people are at the heart of this region’s history, its present, and its future. Regardless of their ancestry, the 2.9 million Long Islanders of all backgrounds—who live in villages with Algonquian names that include Hauppauge, Ronkonkoma, Mastic, Montauk, and more—have a stake and a vested interest in gaining a much better understanding and appreciation of the complicated, interwoven, and ongoing story of Native Long Island. This exhibition is the first at LIM to explore the historical contours and the present-day artistic legacies of this story, developed in Consultation with an advisory panel of Native American community members and scholarly experts.

Explore artifacts and art from Tecumseh Ceaser (Matinecock Turkey clan, Montaukett, and Unkechaug), Jeremy Dennis (Shinnecock), David Bunn Martine (Shinnecock-Montauk/Nde Daa’i (Nednai) Chiricahua Apache), Lydia Ann Wallace-Chavez (Unkechaug/Kainai Blackfoot), and many more.

 

Advisory Comittee

Sandi Brewster-walker – Executive Director, Montaukett Indian Nation

Jeremy Dennis – Executive Director, Ma’s House & BIPOC Studio

Allison McGovern, PhD, RPA – Anthropological Archaeologist

David Bunn Martine – Artist and Former Head of Shinnecock Nation Cultural Center and Museum

Lorrie McCallister – Dean, University Library, Hofstra University

Joseph M. Pierce – Associate Professor and Founding Director, Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative, Stony Brook University

Helen (Hart of Morning Star) Sells – President, Setalcott Native American Council

Chief Harry Wallace – Unkechaug Indian Nation

 

 

This exhibition is part of LIM’s America250 celebration,  featuring special exhibitions and related programming. Learn more at longislandmuseum.org/longisland250.

 

Exhibition funding was provided, in part, by