Convergence: For our readers, who may not know your unique connection to the world of Native American museums, what can you tell us about your background?

Duane King: I've been with the Southwest Museum for just over eight years. Prior to that, I was with the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Institution for five years. While I was the assistant director of the Museum of the American Indian in New York, the Smithsonian acquired the Heye Foundation collection, which in essence was the Museum of the American Indian. The Heye Foundation has a history parallel to the Southwest Museum's. Both were established by collectors in the early part of the twentieth century, and the buildings housing both collections were constructed in the second decade of the 1900s. Between them, these two museums hold the finest collections of Native American material in existence. I consider myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with both collections.

Convergence: Who are the Southwest Museum's constituencies?

Duane King: The general public, the Native American community, museum members and volunteers, and the neighborhood organizations that are within the immediate vicinity of the Southwest Museum. Although we are an important part of our local community, in many respects the museum is better known nationally and internationally than it is within Los Angeles. And that's simply on the basis of the strength and reputation of the Southwest Museum's collection.

Convergence: How would you describe the Southwest Museum's role in the Autry National Center?

Duane King: The Southwest Museum holds one of the premier collections of Native American material in existence. With this collection, the convergence of the Southwest Museum and the Museum of the American West enables the Center to fully explore Native American identity and gain national significance. The Southwest Museum will continue to focus on American Indian histories and cultures, but our presence in the Autry National Center also provides an interchange that was missing.

Convergence: Is it safe to say that we don't fully understand the impact that Native American cultures have had on the world?

Duane King: Yes, I do think that's a fair statement. What influences have Native American cultures had? One example can be found in the food we eat. Sixty percent of the world's cuisine today is made up of foods first cultivated and grown by indigenous peoples of the Americas. The change in dietary habits resulted in a dramatic increase in certain populations. For example, potatoes—which were first grown in the New World, cultivated in Peru and diffused throughout Central and South America, then taken to Europe—created a six-fold increase in the European population in the last four hundred years. Potatoes gave Europeans a stable food supply. Sea Island cotton also had an important effect on European culture. Prior to its introduction—Courtesy of indigenous Americans—European clothing was made out of wool. So the amount of clothing that could be made was directly dependent on the number of sheep you could raise in whatever area you controlled. Cotton provided a ready supply of fiber to make cloth and clothing. Food and fiber first produced by Native Americans has dramatically changed the quality of life for the world's populations.

Convergence: Might we find this information in K-12 textbooks?

Duane King: No, not directly.

Convergence: What is the biggest opportunity before you?

Duane King: The greatest opportunity, in terms of the Southwest Museum's holdings, is to move collections management and access into the twenty-first century. The electronic cataloging program we're currently using at the Southwest Museum is a DOS-based system that doesn't have the means to attach images to data and enable their use in a way that would greatly benefit researchers. The Southwest's facilities have never matched its collections. No more than a fraction of a percent of the total collection has ever been displayed at one time. With the resources of the Autry National Center, this collection now has the potential to be fully explored, perhaps for the first time since its inception.

Convergence: What's the biggest challenge?

Duane King: Making the right decisions at every step of the way, because the decisions that we'll be making in the next couple of years will affect the museum for the next several decades.

Convergence: It's five years from now and everything that you dreamed was going to happen has happened. What is the world like for the Southwest Museum?

Duane King: We will see larger and more diverse audiences responding to innovative exhibitions and exciting educational programming. The new exhibition and storage space for the Southwest Museum at Griffith Park will create opportunities for expansion in every area. We will see collaborative relationships with Native American communities, resulting in traveling exhibitions, long-term loans, and public programs developed in the Native voice. We will see Native American involvement at all levels of the Autry National Center. Training programs for museum professionals, a proving ground for performing artists, research possibilities for scholars and academicians, showcase events for fine artists, and in-service programs for teachers are among the many career-enhancement opportunities that will attract Native American and other professionals to the Autry National Center. I have no doubt that many communities will view the Autry National Center as vital not only to maintaining ties to their own heritage but also to their hope for the future tied to that heritage. Our mission is to ensure that the link between the past and the future is never broken and that the exhibitions and programs we produce in the present foster a greater understanding of the historical and cultural continuum in which we exist.

Convergence: What gets you out of bed in the morning?

Duane King: Knowing that each day brings our shared vision for the future of the Southwest Museum and the Autry National Center one step closer to reality. The plans for the new facilities are exciting, but even more exciting is the realization of what the new facilities will mean for the collections, the programs, and the public. Thinking about those possibilities is much like working with the collection of the Southwest Museum: There is something new to learn every day. Yesterday, we were in the collections looking for material for a new installation. I opened some drawers in the Northwest Coast storage area and found things I had never seen before and learned things I did not know. The size of this collection is so immense—in terms of artifacts, historic photographs, and archival holdings—that more than one lifetime would be required to observe and absorb it all.

Convergence: What keeps you awake at night?

Duane King: The enormity of the challenges, as well as the enormity of the opportunities. And probably more so the opportunities than the challenges because I think that the challenges are manageable. This is the first time in my career at the Southwest Museum that I've felt that the challenges and the opportunities line up. Without the creation of the Center, the ability to really do justice to the collection certainly would not exist.