Qualla: Five Civilized Tribes Museum

Five Civilized Tribes Museum: Introduction

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The name "Da-Co-Tah" comes from the Dakota language and means "Circle of Friends." It was chosen by a group of Native American women in Muskogee, Oklahoma, who met twice a month, donated shoes to orphans, and took children to the movies -- and who, without a single dollar of government money, restored a crumbling 1870s federal building and turned it into one of the most important repositories of Native art in the country. The Five Civilized Tribes Museum, housed in the old Union Indian Agency building, is their legacy.

Five Civilized Tribes Museum: From Agency to Dance Hall to Ruin

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Bureau of Indian Affairs constructed the Union Indian Agency Building in the 1870s to house the Superintendent of the Five Civilized Tribes -- the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole. It was the first consolidated agency for the tribes, who had previo...

Five Civilized Tribes Museum: A Circle of Friends

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Da-Co-Tah Indian Club's founding women, all of Native American ancestry, chose red and gold as their club colors -- symbols of friendship, steadfast ideals, and ambition for the future. They were federated in 1930 and spent decades performing charitable works: donating food a...

Five Civilized Tribes Museum: Jerome Tiger's Legacy

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The museum holds an extensive collection of art produced by Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee, and Seminole artists, including works by Fred Beaver, Johnny Tiger, and Joan Hill. Its crown jewel is the world's largest collection of Jerome Tiger originals. Tiger, a Muscogee-Se...

Five Civilized Tribes Museum: Living Culture on Agency Hill

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the museum building is itself an artifact -- a physical remnant of the federal government's complex relationship with the tribes it displaced. Downstairs, rotating exhibitions explore facets of life, history, and culture across ...