Smithsonian Examines History Of Post Office Murals

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hundreds of murals commissioned as public art for U.S. post offices in the New Deal era are the focus of a new online project created by the Smithsonian.

Of the 1,600 murals created in post offices and federal buildings through federal art competitions, about 400 of them depict American Indians. Curators have analyzed the artworks and found that most of the artists were not familiar with Native American culture.

Now the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum and National Museum of the American Indian have created the new online exhibition "Indians at the Post Office: Native American Themes in New Deal-Era Murals."

The long-term goal is to research and publish 21st century critiques of the 400 murals to address their virtues and inaccuracies in the depiction of American Indians.