Private museums could face NAGPRA scrutiny
Museums and other institutions that accept stimulus funds could be required to repatriate Indigenous artifacts and remains
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May 16, 2021
Eighteen medicine bags from the Portland Art Museum s Native American collection are headed back to Montana. The museum, based in Portland, Oregon, has also worked to return cultural and religious items belonging to the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. (Photo courtesy of Portland Art Museum)
Museums and other institutions that accept stimulus funds could be required to repatriate Indigenous artifacts and remains
Nanette Kelley
Small museums and private institutions that accept federal CARES Act money or other stimulus funds could be forced to relinquish thousands of Indigenous items and ancestral remains now in their collections.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) â The Mississippi Department of Archives and History now has a new website documenting its progress returning Native American remains in its collection to tribes.Â
Since 1990, federal law has required that institutions like museums and schools that receive federal funding return human remains, funerary objects and other sacred items to their Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian descendants.
Many remains in Mississippi were discovered by Delta farmers developing land in the 1950s to 1970s. In some instances, shell beads, stone tools, celts and vessels found in burial sites in the U.S. have been put on exhibit.
Many remains in Mississippi were discovered by Delta farmers developing land in the 1950s to 1970s. In some instances, shell beads, stone tools, celts and vessels found in burial sites in the U.S. have been put on exhibit.
Around 83,000 remains in the U.S. have been returned to descendants as of this fall, according to data provided to The Associated Press by the National Park Service. But at least another 116,000 ancestors are still waiting to be returned.
This year, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History completed the largest repatriation in Mississippi’s history, returning 403 remains to the Chickasaw Nation. However, there are still at least 1,000 remains in Mississippi that have yet to be returned.
Evening briefs in Indian Country
Headlines from Thursday, April 1, 2021
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Headlines from Thursday, April 1, 2021
Happy first day of April! Here’s a look at what’s happening today:
Years later, Chickasaw remains returning home
JACKSON, Miss. A man and a woman were found buried among wolf teeth and turtle shells. Other graves contained mothers and infants. Some tribal citizens were laid to rest with beloved dogs.
Over the last century, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History has stored the remains of hundreds of Native Americans who once inhabited the state.
“We see the repatriation process as an act of love, said Amber Hood, Director of Historic Preservation and Repatriation for The Chickasaw Nation. “These are our grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles and cousins from long ago.”
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI The
Associated Press reports that the Mississippi Department of Archives and History will hand over more than 400 sets of human remains and 83 artifacts in its collections to The Chickasaw Nation under the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). The remains have been dated to between 750 and 1,800 years old. “These are our grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles and cousins from long ago,” said Amber Hood, director of historic preservation and repatriation for The Chickasaw Nation. The remains and artifacts will be transported and reburied in decomposable muslin bags sewn by volunteers, according to archaeologist Meg Cook. More than 1,000 sets of human remains in Mississippi have yet to be identified and repatriated. Many of the remains held in Mississippi were unearthed during construction projects. For more on Native American communities in the southeastern United States, go to Letter from Florida: People of the White