Photographs by Vincent Snyder, Architect
View of Missouri River from site location.
   


New Moon Moving

 Umonhon  Tribal Interpretive Center/Museum


A Vision of Cultural Resilience

The Umonhon (Omaha) Tribal Interpretive Center/Museum -- New Moon  Moving -- will be a world-class exhibition, archival and educational facility situated among ancestral Reservation lands on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River in the northeast quadrant of Nebraska, along the eastern edge of the Great Plains of the North American steppe -- greatest prairie region on earth.
 
Nestled among wooded lands rich in both sacred and historic sites, New Moon  Moving’s unique and remarkable design is exemplary of both geographic and cultural place. Sculpted literally atop a bluff 270 feet above the flood plain,  New Moon  Moving affords in three directions an exquisite view of the immediate Missouri River basin, north, south and east, to the Iowan Loess Hills beyond. At the cliff base are low-lying wetlands to be set aside as a wildlife sanctuary, while the accompanying wilderness both north and south along the river and atop the bluffs, plentiful with diverse plants and animals and local sites of interest, will feature several hiking and horse trails, offering at least two canoe landings. The planned 3,300 acre sanctuary is valued at over $1 million dollars unimproved, and will continue a thread of trails and other public access along the western banks of the Missouri River provided by both Nebraska state parks and non-profit, private entities such as Indian Caves State Park to the southeast, Fontenelle Forest near the City of Omaha, and Ponca State Park in the northeast.

 



Maps courtesy of Vincent Snyder
Location of reservation in the state of Nebraska, location of site area on regional map,
and location of the actual building on the bluffs overlooking the Missouri River.

 

   
Designed by the noted architect and Nebraska native Vincent Snyder of Austin, Texas, New Moon  Moving reflects state-of-the-art thinking in terms of exhibits, conservation and scholarly research in a culturally appropriate setting.  An interpretive composite of the strength and power of Umonhon cosmology and resilience of the adaptability of an ancient people to modern life, Mr. Snyder’s aesthetic is meant as a “living sculpture,” providing in shape and line an unmistakable presence of what 21st Century visitors can yet learn about themselves through the shadows of the past.  A graduate of the University of Nebraska and  Princeton University, Mr. Snyder has a distinguished career that includes extensive professional associations with the architects Michael Graves and Frank Gehry, where as a senior design architect he contributed to such internationally-acclaimed projects as the Vitra Headquarters in Switzerland, EuroDisney-land in France, and the EMR Communications and Technology Center in Germany.
 
Vincent Snyder's design for the OTHRP showcase has won three top awards so far.

  Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture
Faculty Design Award 2002

   Boston Society of Architects' Unbuilt Architecture
Design Award 2002

    50th Annual Progressive Architecture Award
Architecture Magazine 2003

A 90 second movie of the museum project was used as an exhibit in Verona, Italy in 2003 along with many famous American and European architects that are doing other projects in stone.  New Moon  Moving qualifies for this exhibit because it is covered in slate.

  
 

  

Diagram of Interpretive Center/ Museum
 Design by Vincent Snyder.		 Entrance View from Model.
 Design by Vincent Snyder.
 
 
 

Among the many exhibits, visual displays and interactive media to be seen throughout the public areas of New Moon  Moving are a number of cultural artifacts and sacred objects, valued at $3.5 million dollars, returned to the Umonhon ni ngashinga (Omaha people) in the late 1980's through the work of the Omaha Tribal Historical Research Project (OTHRP), the organization responsible for New Moon  Moving’s presence and initial operation.  It is OTHRP's belief and New Moon  Moving's mission in all its programs and research activities to incorporate a proactive, ecological approach that tells the Umonhon story in terms of cultural resilience and reality.  New Moon  Moving will serve as the central repository for all cultural material and archival documents relating to the Umonhon, one of the major Native cultures of North America. Both academic and conservatory work will be a prime focus of  New Moon  Moving’s mission. Scholars interested in researching any aspect of both the ancestral or contemporary Umonhon, and institutions desirous of restoring fragile materials related to Native culture, will be able to fulfill these needs. A major research library expressly designed for Umonhon and related Native research will be open to both the public and scholars

Among its many educational and community service components, New Moon  Moving will also serve as the administrative offices for OTHRP's numerous cultural, repository, research and service interests. A full-service restaurant, featuring local Native cuisine and regional offerings in a pleasant ambiance of vistas overlooking the Missouri River basin, will also be available. Atop is an outdoor concourse where community events and other public gatherings will be presented during the seasons appropriate with such venues. 
     
Groundbreaking, completion and operation of New Moon Moving, with construction expected to take up to three years, is anticipated to be accomplished by the end of the first decade of the 21st Century.

 

Entrance View of Interpretive Center/ Museum
 Design by Vincent Snyder.		 River View of Interpretive Center/ Museum
 Design by Vincent Snyder.

For further information click on:

Vincent Snyder, Architect

To contact  OTHRP, INC. directly:

RR 1 Box 79A
Walthill, NE 68067
402-846-5454


A museum for the people, built by the people to house the artifacts and sacred items taken from the people over a century ago.  Help right a historic wrong by being a part of the return of a culture, make a donation with or without a purchase.

If you enjoyed our site or use information found on this site in your academic or professional research, please show it by making a donation to our Interpretive Center/Museum project. People helping people makes the world a better place.

This site is the work of an all volunteer multi-cultural group of people.  We update it regularly so that it is timely and useful.  It is constantly expanding as we bring new information and new art pieces to the public.  This is a free service given willingly by people who believe in promoting artisans and in helping the Omaha people built their museum for their artifacts and sacred objects that were finally returned to them in 1991.  We ask that you join us by telling others about the site and to make a donation to the museum.  Every little bit helps.


All donations are USA tax deductible.

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