Washington, D.C. – The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian will present the first-ever NMAI Prism Award to Irving Nelson (Navajo) and Maria Hinton (Oneida) during the museum’s Anniversary Gala Reception held on October 07, 2009.  Last Wednesday, Mr. Nelson’s oldest son Christopher accompanied him on the  trip to D.C. to receive the award.

Irving Nelson, Wes Studi, Christopher Nelson at the NMAI Prism Awards

According to an NMAI press release on October 06, the award is given to outstanding Native individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary and innovative approaches to public service in their local community.  As a part of his work through the years, Mr. Nelson was one of the first to take the lead in bringing books and a library setting to the Kayenta community.

“We were looking for those quiet heroes we all know from our hometowns who are good hearted and committed to the betterment of people’s lives,” said Kevin Grover, museum director.  “These are individuals whose work goes largely unnoticed by the outisde world but is so important to the people of the community.  We could not have chose more deserving recipients.” 

Irving Nelson, from Window Rock, Arizona, is the current director of the Navajo Nation library system where he started as the bookmobile driver in 1978.  His dedication to bringing accessible reading to the Navajo people is apparent in his efforts to amass and personally catalog more than 70,000 books in the collection.  The libraries’ special collection on Native American topics, featuring 11,000 books, also inlcudes oral-history tapes and tribal land-claims records dating back to 1675.  Through his outreach to obtain donated materials, Nelson has build a fulsome, balanced library and has driven across the county to collect books; he has also established a public-access computer lab.  Groups that benefit include all 110 Navajo chapter houses,  Boys and Girls Clubs, Head Start and detention centers.  Under Nelson’s direction, the entire card catalog and Navajo Times tribal newspaper has been fully digitized and archived.    

Mr. Nelson holding his NMAI Prism Award on October 07, 2009

The NMAI Prism Award was designed to reflect an important architectural feature in the museum’s Potoman Atrium.  Eight acrylic prisms are located in the south wall, and on sunlit days they emit a colorful spectrum that moves across the floor and walls of the space.  Much like a prism that captures light and disperses it in many directions and colors, the winners of the awards, through their selfless work, touch upon many people in a positive way.  The base of the award is made from the original Kastoa limestone used to clad exterior of the museum, and the acrylic prism is engraved with a sun symbol.

More than 35 nominations were submitted and the eight finalists were chosen by the executive committee of the museum’s board of trustees.