News Release

National Park Service Helping Tribes and Museums Repatriate Native American Remains and Sacred Objects

The San Diego Museum of Man’s registrar and collections manager working with members of the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians of the Stewarts Point Rancheria, CA during a NAGPRA-based visit to collections.

Photo courtesy of the San Diego Museum of Man

News Release Date: July 11, 2016

Contact: Jeremy Barnum, 202-208-6843

WASHINGTON –The National Park Service announced today over $1.6 million in grants to Indian tribes and museums to assist in the repatriation of human remains and cultural items back to Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations.

The grants will be provided to 14 Indian tribes and 14 museums for projects related to repatriation, including consultation and documentation of Native American collections. For example, the Hydaburg Cooperative Association in Alaska will identify and document Haida cultural items in multiple repositories and develop a repatriation policy for the tribe. The Field Museum of Natural History in Illinois will repatriate nine ancestors and their funerary objects to the White Mountain Apache Tribe. The White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians will repatriate a birch bark scroll and conduct consultation on other sacred items at the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology in Massachusetts. The grants are administered by the National Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Program in the National Park Service.

"Returning the remains of ancestors and important cultural objects back to native tribes is not merely a legal obligation;it is the right thing to do," said National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis. "The National Park Service tells America's story, including the shameful chapters," said Jarvis. "While history cannot be un-done, these NAGPRA grants help to right some of the wrongs suffered by native peoples and cultures."

Enacted in 1990, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act requires museums and federal agencies to inventory and identify Native American human remains and cultural items in their collections, and to consult with Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations regarding repatriation. Section 10 of the Act authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to award grants to assist in implementing provisions of the Act.

For more information visit https://www.nps.gov/nagpra/.

FY 2016 NAGPRA Grant Recipients

State	Recipient	Amount
Alaska	Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska	$88,758.00
Alaska	Hydaburg Cooperative Association	$87,167.00
Alaska	Kenaitze Indian Tribe	$2,052.00
Alaska	Native Village of Barrow	$15,000.00
Alaska	Sitka Tribe of Alaska	$14,996.00
Calif.	Dana Adobe Nipomo Amigos	$43,314.00
Calif.	Elk Valley Rancheria, California	$50,958.00
Calif.	Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria	$89,749.00
Calif.	Greenville Rancheria	$89,781.00
Calif.	San Diego Museum of Man	$89,794.00
Calif.	Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation (Smith River Rancheria)	$86,288.00
Calif.	Wiyot Tribe	$88,294.00
Colo.	La Plata County Historical Society, Animas Museum	$38,070.00
Colo.	Colorado Seminary (University of Denver Museum of Anthropology) (2 awards)	$44,912.00
Colo.	History Colorado (State Historical Society of Colorado) (2 awards)	$12,126.00
Conn.	Yale University	$35,342.00
Ill.	Field Museum of Natural History (2 awards)	$94,148.00
Mich.	City of St. Ignace	$82,192.00
Mich.	City of Traverse City	$79,200.00
Mich.	Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan	$3,364.00
Minn.	White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians (3 awards)	$45,852.00
N.M.	The Regents of the University of New Mexico	$89,901.00
Ohio	Cincinnati Museum Center	$72,120.00
Okla.	Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma (Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History)	$89,996.00
Okla.	Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma	$89,370.00
Okla.	Chickasaw Nation (2 awards)	$13,365.00
W.Va.	Davis &Elkins College, Inc.	$11,275.00
W.Va.	Marshall University Research Corporation	$90,000.00
	Total	$1,637,384.00

www.nps.gov

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