Mashantucket Pequot Museum's 25th

Cultural gem marks a quarter century

An historic gala in Mashantucket and launch of exhibit 'Our Moons'

The Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center celebrated its 25th Anniversary Aug. 11 with a colorful gala, pairing the moment with the launch of a new art exhibit called (take your time pronouncing this one) "Kunâhneepamuhshâtunônak" or “Our Moons."

The feel-good gala, with special guests, performances and awards to former museum directors and tribal partners, took place in the soaring-glass, central Pequot Museum Gathering Space.

The exhibit, which we previewed Friday in its gallery space at the 308,000-square-foot museum, opened to the public a day later and runs through summer 2024 (included with museum admission). In various artistic media, the exhibit shines a historic and cultural spotlight on the Pequot people, especially the Indigenous teachings of how the cycles of the moon have provided guidance and support for the original people of the Northeast.

It's a worthy exhibit (more on this coming in a fall edition of Connecticut Magazine). But back to the gala, which itself served not only to raise money for the museum and its educational mission during a time when many museums and theaters are struggling (the anniversary initiative is called "Meesumôk Neetôp" in Pequot) but it also proved to be a hearty affirmation of the facility's vital role in telling the dramatic and often-hidden story of this people's survival in the Northeast.

Mashantucket Tribal Council Chairman Rodney Butler, fresh back from a vacation, he noted, said the museum's grand opening in 1998 marked a profound milestone in Pequot history, representing the resurgence of  Pequot ancestors. The tribe ultimately survived and overcame "a systemic effort to exterminate and disburse us from the earliest of Colonial times.

"The Pequot museum," he said to hundreds of invited guests and tribal members, "has effectively represented our tribal history, our land and traditions, Northeastern woodland tribal culture and the history of America through an Indigenous perspective, to millions of visitors all over the world for the past 25 years."

And in this polarized American culture that includes political battles over what to teach public school students about American history and racism, museum Executive Director Joshua Carter noted the state's recently successful partnership with Connecticut’s recognized tribal nations to create a new Native American studies model curriculum. The museum's scholars and artists, including Carter, whose art is represented in the show, know a thing or two about that stirring history.

Some photos from the mid-August gala:

Visitors enjoy a moment in the shadow of the 185-foot stone tower and glass gathering space that welcomes visitors and was the setting for the night's gala.

   The hallway leading to the "Our Moons" exhibit at the Pequot Museum.

The gala scene at the Pequot Museum Sept. 10.

                                 The cloud-like center area of the "Our Moons" exhibit.

                                  Artist Jonathan Perry chats outside the art exhibit.

               Jonathan Perry's Fish Moon Necklace features a large copper centerpiece.