The Southwest Museum holds one of the nation's most important museum, library, and archive collections related to the American Indian. In addition, it has extensive holdings of pre-Hispanic, Spanish colonial, Latino, and Western American art and artifacts. For nearly one hundred years it has supported research, publications, exhibitions, and other educational activities to advance the public's understanding and appreciation of the indigenous cultures of the Americas, with particular emphasis on the western United States and Mesoamerica. The Southwest Museum building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the California Register due to its association with its founder, Charles Fletcher Lummis, as well as its unique architectural style, which has remained virtually unchanged since its construction in 1914.

The collections of the Southwest Museum represent Native American cultures from Alaska to South America. The museum contains some of the finest examples of American Indian art and cultural material in the United States. Beyond this primary emphasis, the Southwest Museum holds important collections of Mesoamerican and South American pre-Columbian pottery and textiles, and Hispanic folk and decorative arts.

After more than fifteen years of considering options for the future of the Southwest Museum, the museum and its board of trustees voted to pursue a relationship with the Autry Museum of Western Heritage. The Southwest Museum is now one of three operating units under the umbrella of the Autry National Center: the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, the Museum of the American West (formerly the Autry Museum), and the Institute for the Study of the American West. The Southwest Museum starts its second hundred years with renewed vigor and enthusiasm made possible by this merger.

The new Autry National Center membership, extended to all current Autry and Southwest members, provides free admission to both the Southwest Museum and the Museum of the American West as well as access to the excellent programs at both museums. Members also receive their membership discount in both museum stores.