Page 2 - Repatriation Project News Today

The new Interior Department regulations address long-criticized loopholes and issues identified by ProPublica’s reporting. They will go into effect in 2024.

The university’s Peabody Museum exploited loopholes to prevent repatriation to the Wabanaki people while still staying in compliance with NAGPRA. The tribes didn’t give up.

It would be the largest repatriation by far at an institution that holds more than 9,000 ancestral remains and has lagged behind in returning its holdings under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

After the mass killing at Wounded Knee, the American Museum of Natural History received children’s toys taken from the site. A 1990 law was meant to “expeditiously return” such items to Native Americans, but descendants are still waiting.

ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.

In the absence of clearer rules, museums should be more careful with material they may have to return, writes Chip Colwell

“It’s a long process, but it’s one that is good and frankly, needs to be done and has been too long coming,” said a member of the Peoria Tribe, which was moved from Illinois in 1818.

With the country’s second-largest collection of unrepatriated remains, Illinois has lagged far behind the nation. A new law has the Osage Nation hopeful there will soon be progress.

PLUS: Culture war comes to libraries

Mary Hudetz describes the financial cost and emotional distress that tribal communities face as they continue to wait for the return of the remains of their ancestors, thousands of which are held in museums across the country.