Since 1948, the Museum of the Cherokee People has served its community and visitors as the tribal museum of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located in Cherokee, North Carolina on the Qualla Boundary, the sovereign land of the EBCI and ancestral homelands of all Cherokees, the Museum shares the history, culture, and stories of the Cherokee people through its exhibitions, collections, and programs, centering communities as the authors and narrators of their own histories.

The Museum adopts a First Voice approach, In the words of Shana Bushyhead Condill (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), Director, “No longer are we simply asking for a seat at the table, we are now demanding self-representation. No longer will our museum labels talk about Cherokee people in the third person, and in the past tense. We hold the pen in our hands. We carry the knowledge and expertise. We write our own stories.” 

In that spirit, in 2023, the museum unveiled its new name in the Cherokee language: ᏣᎳᎩ ᎢᏗᏴᏫᏯᎯ ᎢᎦᏤᎵ ᎤᏪᏘ ᎠᏍᏆᏂᎪᏙᏗ (Tsalagi idiyvwiyahi igatseli uweti asquanigododi), which translates to: “All of us are Cherokee people. It is all of ours, where the old things are stored.”