The Long Island Museum in Stony Brook has five weeks left on Enduring Heart: Native American Long Island, the first exhibition in the museum's history to examine the story of the Island's Native peoples, from the historical record to the art being made by Native artists today. It closes on Sunday, December 20. Before then, the museum has scheduled a performance by the Boys & Girls Club of Shinnecock Nation Dance Troupe on Saturday, November 21, a virtual lecture on November 18, and a free-admission open house on December 6.

What the exhibition covers

Enduring Heart opened in the LIM Art Museum on August 20. The museum describes it as a celebration of the First Peoples of Long Island and points out that many of the Island's 2.9 million residents live in places with Algonquian names, among them Hauppauge, Ronkonkoma, Mastic and Montauk.

The show combines artifacts with work by living artists. Among those named by the museum are Tecumseh Ceaser, of the Matinecock Turkey clan, Montaukett and Unkechaug; Jeremy Dennis, of the Shinnecock Nation; David Bunn Martine, Shinnecock-Montauk and Chiricahua Apache; and Lydia Ann Wallace-Chavez, Unkechaug and Kainai Blackfoot.

The exhibition was developed with an advisory panel of Native community members and scholars. The museum lists Sandi Brewster-Walker, executive director of the Montaukett Indian Nation; Jeremy Dennis, executive director of Ma's House & BIPOC Studio; and Allison McGovern, an anthropological archaeologist and the cultural resources manager at Brookhaven National Laboratory, among its members.

Shinnecock youth dancers, Saturday, Nov. 21

At 1 p.m. on November 21, the Boys & Girls Club of Shinnecock Nation Dance Troupe performs at the museum. The troupe is made up of Native American young people from the Shinnecock Nation, and it performs across Long Island and New York City. The program includes both powwow-style dances and traditional Shinnecock dances. It is included with museum admission, and no registration is needed.

November is Native American Heritage Month, and the performance is one of several programs the museum has built around the exhibition this fall. On Wednesday, November 18, at 7 p.m., Brown University history professor Linford D. Fisher gives a free virtual lecture on his book Stealing America: The Hidden Story of Indigenous Slavery in U.S. History, which traces the enslavement of Native people in the Americas from the years just after 1492.

A free day on Dec. 6

On Sunday, December 6, from noon, the museum holds its Winter Open House with free admission for everyone. Visitors can see Enduring Heart and the second fall show, American Palette: LIMarts Members' Exhibition, which opens November 27, along with the Carriage Museum, where staff are running short pop-up tours on Gilded Age carriages. No registration is required.

The Carriage Museum also hosts costumed Dickens-era street characters on Sunday, November 29, at 2 p.m., tied to the 30th annual Charles Dickens Festival in Port Jefferson. That program is included with admission.

Hours, admission and how to go

The Long Island Museum is at 1200 Route 25A in Stony Brook. It is open Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday through Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is $15 for adults, $10 for seniors 62 and older, $10 for students ages 6 to 17 and college students with ID, and $5 for people with a disability, with personal care assistants admitted free. Children under 6, active and retired military, and members get in free. On Thursdays, admission is free after 5 p.m.

Tickets are sold at the Visitors Center on the west side of Route 25A, across the street from the Carriage Museum. The museum is closed on Thanksgiving Day. For questions, call 631-751-0066.

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