By William CrumStaff writerwcrum@oklahoman.comThe repository for history, stories and traditions of Oklahoma's 39 tribal nations has a new name to match its aspirations. The First Americans Museum will take its place alongside such galleries as the Denver Art Museum, the Heard Museum in Phoenix, the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia and the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, when it opens in May 2021. Conceived in the 1990s as the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum, the project survived legislative neglect that left it standing unfinished for many years. It was revived by a partnership between the city of Oklahoma City and the Chickasaw Nation in a deal that captured $25 million from the state, contingent on a private match, and provided the tribe development rights to property around the museum, which lies southeast of the Interstate 35/40 interchange near downtown. "The AICCM has overcome many challenges, and it’s time we shed the skin of the past and look towards the future," said James Pepper Henry, the museum director. The new branding as FAM and the new logo were introduced Thursday afternoon. "When referencing American Indian people we acknowledge there is no one name that addresses all the complexities of so many diverse nations in one concise term," Pepper Henry said at a news conference attended by Chickasaw Nation Gov.Read more on NewsOK.com