About This Blog

Welcome to The Indian American Story, the blog for The Smithsonian Indian American Heritage Project. Here, you will find contributors blogging about the latest Indian American issues and about happenings at the IAHP and at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.

The Indian American Heritage Project is a new initiative to create an exhibition chronicling the story of immigrants from India and their descendants in America. The exhibition will be accompanied by a curriculum guide for middle school students, a public program series to educate the general public, and a website with supporting social network tools to engage audiences. Numbering nearly 3 million in the U.S., Indian Americans now have the chance to have their history, contributions, challenges, and perspectives told at the Smithsonian Institution, the largest museum and research complex in the world.

For more about the Indian American Heritage Project, visit the website. If you are interested in contributing to the blog, please email the IAHP curator, Masum Momaya, at MomayaM@si.edu

Bloggers:

Aditya Desai is pursuing a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Priya Chhaya is a public historian that works with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She sees history wherever she goes and believes that it is an important part of the American (and Indian American) identity. Additional writing by Priya can be found at blog.preservationnation.org and …and this is what comes next

Rajshree Solanki is the Registration Specialist for Loans at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. In 2007, she took part in an autorickshaw rally across India from Chennai to Mumbai. She promised her parents never to do it again.

Lavina Melwani is an award-winning journalist who has written for several international publications including: India Today, Newsday, The Week, WSJ, Travel Plus and The Hindu. She lives in New York. Her online magazine, Lassi with Lavina, is about Indian art and culture. Click here to visit her website, Lassi with Lavina.