On this day in history, August 27, 1935, Congress created the Indian Arts and Crafts Board “to promote the economic welfare of Indian tribes and the Indian wards of the Government through the development of Indian arts and crafts and the expansion of the market for the products of Indian art and craftsmanship.” A 1990 update to the law (P.L. 101-644) “is a truth-in-advertising law that prohibits misrepresentation in marketing of Indian arts and crafts products within the United States.”
The Indian Arts and Crafts Board continues to exist today. Among its programs, the Board produces a state-by-state directory of businesses selling Indian art and crafts. Here is a link to the Minnesota page. The Board also enforcing laws against non-Native people misrepresenting their art as American Indian made.
The Board also operates several museums, including the Sioux Indian Museum in Rapid City, South Dakota and the Museum of Plains Indians in Browning, Montana.
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