The American Museum of Natural History (MNH) in New York has repatriated the remains of 124 Native individuals and 90 cultural objects. In a letter to staff on July 25, museum president Sean Decatur highlighted that the institution has conducted over 400 consultations with around 50 stakeholders, hosted seven Indigenous delegations, and completed eight repatriations. This effort is part of a broader initiative to return the remains of 2,200 Native Americans and thousands of tribal funerary artifacts.

Among the repatriated items are the remains of at least three members of California’s Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians. According to the Federal Register, one ancestor’s remains were sold to the AMNH in 1891 by James Terry, an early curator, and two more sets were sold in 1924 by Austrian anthropologist Felix von Luschan.

These repatriations follow recent revisions to the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), aimed at addressing tribal leaders’ concerns about delays in returning ancestral remains and artifacts. The new guidelines require institutions to obtain tribal consent before displaying or researching cultural items. Consequently, the AMNH has closed its Eastern Woodlands and Great Plains halls. Decatur emphasized that the museum’s efforts to implement lasting changes in policies and practices will continue over the coming years.

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