koshare indian museum

I loved the room with oil paintings by the original Taos artists, which also has Maria black on black Navajo pots. Priceless. The arrowhead collections are vast and interesting. There is a complete set of Santa Fe Railroad calendar art, which is an amazing feat. Then start on the Native American costumes. The museum is very modern and clean compared to all others in this area. I've heard it said that this museum trails only the Smithsonian for this kind of collection.

If you are travelling through La Junta, it is well worth a stop at the Kiva. Brimming with history and a treasure trove of art it is fascinating how this museum came in to existence. Learn the story of the Koshare Indian dancers and the man who made it all possible.

As always a great show to watch. I was raised around here and the Koshares, Buck was a hell of a man. Its changed some but fun when the older retired dancers come back to show up the newer ones.

The staff was so friendly and helpful....and the museum had collections of art and cultural items not seen in many large city museums with much bigger budgets.....we will be back for the dances...

As other reviewers have explained this is a unique museum containing an eclectic collection of Native American art of the Southwestern region and a replica of a Kiva, built during the Great Depression era to house the newly formed Koshare dancers. The art collection was assembled over the last 80 years by the founder (Mr. "Buck" Burshears) and members of the Koshare dancers. I believe we were told there are over 13,000 pieces in the entire collection (most are not on display). The Koshare dancers are not Native Americans, but they are Boy Scouts and have developed a respectful interpretation of Native American dances over the decades. The museum placards and displays will take you through the whole history of the Koshare dancers and their founder. Their primary performance time is June and July, but there are some other ones around the holidays. We did not see a performance, but we did visit the museum. A lot of interesting information concerning Kachinas, associated myths and stories, and related material. If you like inspirational sayings and thoughts make sure you visit the basement and go in the back area where there are photographs of the scouts over the decades. There are little inspirational snippets about being your own person, triumphs and failures, fear and courage, etc. I spent a good bit of time writing many of the quotations down. If you are in the area and Native American culture and/or Boy Scouts and their history interests you this place is worth a visit. If you tend to read everything like we do expect to spend 3 - 4 hours going through everything. Most visitors probably spend 1 - 2 hours from what we saw. I think it was only $5.00 admission per adult. Call ahead for their hours. We were there in April 2014 and the posted hours were Monday/Wednesday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday 12pm-5pm.

This is an interesting museum - you would think it was truer Native American. But it has a history you won't find anywhere else. The Boy Scouts are really the basis of this museum. So, while the collection is very good, the whole history of this is sort of odd. Well worth a visit - and the gift shop is good. The kids enjoyed that more than the artifacts and art. Not sure how authentic the collection is though.

This museum is associated with Otero Jr. College and with a Boy Scout troop. We visited during the off-season fro the dances presented by the scouts, but the art was worth the visit.Eclectic collection included native American artists, the Taos school, kachina "dolls", some excellent rugs, and pottery. Art & artifacts included a mixture of old and recent, signed and unsigned. Staff was helpful, gift shop was nice. There are three floors - see them all.

We did not have time to visit the museum, but saw the Saturday night performance, which was excellent. First of all, the dances and songs are done in a very respectful manner. All of the dancers and singers are kids (many Boy Scouts and Explorers, including blonde ones) and they put a lot of time and effort into this. The narrator (also a youth) gives context and history behind each song and dance. This is not just for tourists - these fantastic young people are doing this to keep these traditions alive. The show lasts about 90 minutes and every part of it is great. A must see if you are in La Junta.

My wife and 11 month old son stopped at the Koshare Indian Museum during our visit to La Junta in early August 2013. The museum is located on the south end of town on the campus of the local junior college. When you get there, you arrive in the bookstore. Here we learned that the Koshare is not a tribe, but rather an individual within a tribe known as the prankster. We also learned that the museum is run by the local Boy Scout Troop. The two draws of the museum are the great kiva room and the art displays. The kiva room was dark when we went, but still impressive. I believe they said it has the largest self supporting roof (requiring no nails, although there are a handful per the building code or something). Unfortunately we did not get to see any dancing.The art displays were pretty interesting. We are not the biggest fans of art museums or the like, but there were things which kept us interested. There are several floors with art and artifacts on display, and a couple rooms dedicated to the Boy Scout Troop.I wouldn't call this a top tier museum, but would recommend a stop if in the area.

Beautiful Native American crafts beautifully displayed. I loved the paintings especially. Great gift shop as well.

On a local's recommendation I took my friends visiting Colorado from France to this absolutely beautiful museum. The museum was larger than expected, featuring a large Kiva where Indian dancers perform seasonally. There are several exhibit areas filled with authentic, high quality historical and contemporary artifacts and art. Everything is very clearly and tastefully displayed. The staff were most informative, friendly and understandably enthusiastic about this exhibit.The French visitors were delighted and we would have lingered another couple hours had we had the time. Likewise the museum's gift shop (Trading Post) has many nice, quality items and the couple found gifts to take home.I feel that this site deserves to be more well known and that it is worth a trip, along with the historical Bent's Fort nearby. They are only an hour's drive from I-25.

The Koshare Indian museum is packed with unique works of art as well as historic artifacts. There is much to see and an intriguing counter perspective as compared to Bent's Fort. Noteworthy is the high quality Native American artwork throughout the museum. The notoriety of the artists on display is second to none. Better still, the local scout troop puts on performances in the Kiva portion if the museum. There's nothing like this you will ever see. A must see in La Junta...along with Bent's Fort and the dinosaur tracks.

This museum has a beautiful collection of Indian artifacts and the kiva at the museum is an amazing piece of architecture. All the staff are exceptionally friendly and well informed. Definitely recommend you stop by during your trip to La Junta.

I have seen the Koshare Indians dance on several occasions and found them to be facinating. The Museum and show in LaJunta is spectacular. Don't miss it. The actual visit was years ago with my family and an exchange student from Finland. The site only allowed me to show the visit up to a year ago. We flew our plane to LaJunta airport while I was still ranching in Burlington, CO.

Awesome!!!!! Great History! Make sure to watch the show the performance is so good!!!! The shopping in the gift shop is full of all kinds of different things.