Dr. Herman Viola thinks all those Westerns he watched at a neighborhood theater as a child must have imprinted his brain with a fascination about the American West and Indians.

"I even told other kids I was an American Indian," says Viola, whose parents came from Italy.

A curator emeritus at the Smithsonian Institution, Viola spoke Thursday night about researching American Indians in the federal collections. In the audience at the University Center were members of history, sociology and anthropology classes at the university.

His specialty is the American West, and he is writing a book that tells the story of the Little Big Horn from the Indian perspective.

Viola, who has been adopted by three Indian tribes, uses the term "Indian" instead of "Native American."

"Most Indians want to be known as Indians or by the name of their tribe," he said.

A genial storyteller, Viola said people often want to know how someone ends up at the Smithsonian. He actually aspired to work at a museum in Milwaukee but says his life was changed by a graduate school term paper about Thomas L. McKenney, who started the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

That well-received term paper became a master's thesis that became a doctoral dissertation that led to a job as a "stack rat" at the National Archives, which led to the Smithsonian.

Don't get mad about your next term paper assignment, he told the students. "It might be the thing that turns you on to your life's work."

Currently he is advising on exhibits to the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, which is to begin construction on the Mall soon.

"It will be run by Indians and built for Indians and we will let them interpret their history the way they want to interpret it," he says.

He also teaches part-time in the University of Virginia's continuing education program.

Viola is best-known for conceiving the "Seeds of Change" exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History. The exhibit examined the exchange of plants, animals and diseases that occurred between the Old and New Worlds because of Columbus' voyages.

A special edition of Newsweek was devoted to the exhibit, which is one of the most outstanding in the museum's history.

The exhibition was controversial, he said, because Columbus had fallen from the status of hero to that of a villain blamed for the slavery that followed.

"Columbus' story has good and bad," Viola says. "The world today is so much richer with the blending that occurred. And it would have happened eventually."

Today, Viola will speak to three combined history and art classes, discussing Native American artifacts and paintings. He also will talk to history and historic preservation classes about museum careers.

Tonight he will deliver the keynote address at the Historic Preservation Association Banquet at the Drury Lodge. His topic will be "Wilkes Expedition and the Founding of Smithsonian." Wilkes commanded the U.S. Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842.

Saturday at 2 p.m., Viola will talk about Native American genealogy at the Trail of Tears State Park Visitor's Center.

At 2 p.m. Sunday he will deliver the annual Beckwith Lecture in Crisp Hall's Dempster Auditorium. The presentation is titled "The Artistry of Charles Bird King." A pre-lecture reception will begin at 1 p.m.

King was a 19th century artist who painted watercolors of American Indians and Western scenes. He was often associated with government expeditions to the West.

Viola was director of the National Anthropological Archives at the Smithsonian from 1972-87.