The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) requires that the Yale Peabody Museum, as well as other museums, in consultation with Tribes, Native Hawaiian Organizations, and lineal descendants, identify and return Native American human remains, funerary objects, and sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony. Since the passage of NAGPRA in 1990, staff at the Peabody have worked to repatriate the remains of individuals and cultural items callously collected in the past. Though many repatriations have been completed, there is a great deal more work to do. In partnership with the University, we have increased staff and funding to support these efforts and remain committed to doing all we can to ensure that these ancestors go home.
We acknowledge that this aspect of the Museum’s legacy is tragic. The staff of the Peabody and the leadership of the University are entirely aligned in our desire to return ancestral remains and sacred objects to their communities of origin. Additional staff will give us scope to take on more repatriation work outside of NAGPRA. That work will include expanding our consultation efforts with Indigenous communities around the country and lead to more repatriations in coming years. We are completely committed to these efforts.
— David Skelly, Director of the Yale Peabody Museum
The Yale Peabody Museum believes that repatriation is just the beginning of our commitment to form long-standing relationships with Native American tribes and other descendant communities, both locally and around the world.
Progress
When NAGPRA passed in 1990, the Yale Peabody Museum reported cultural items on summaries in 1993 and ancestor remains and associated funerary objects on preliminary inventories in 1995 to potentially culturally affiliated Native American Tribes and Native Hawaiian Organizations. Inventories can be found on the National NAGPRA website using their database search tool and looking for “Yale Univ., Peabody Museum of Natural History” under “Museum or Federal Agency.”
For specific information on the Peabody’s summaries and inventories, please contact:
|
Jessie Cohen
Repatriation Registrar,
Divisions and Collection Support
+1 203 432 2779
jessie.cohen@yale.edu
|
After preliminary summary and inventory information was sent, the Peabody consulted with federally recognized Tribes, Native Hawaiian Organizations, lineal descendants, and other Native groups. This process continues today. Once consultations lead to a cultural affiliation and the museum updates its corresponding inventories, a Notice is published in the Federal Register. Notices are public announcements that include descriptions of the collection being repatriated and a written review of the consultations and museum’s determination of cultural affiliation.
The Peabody Museum has published the following Notices to culturally affiliate and repatriate ancestors, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony. As the Museum submits new Notices to the National NAGPRA Program for publication to the Federal Register, this list will be updated.
|
Date of Publication |
State Removed From |
Affiliated Tribe(s) |
Notice Number |
|---|---|---|---|
|
2/4/1994 |
Hawaii |
Hui Malama I Na Kupuna 'O Hawai'i Nei; Office of Hawaiian Affairs |
94-4238 |
|
7/14/1997 |
Connecticut |
Mohegan Indian Tribe of Connecticut |
97-18431 |
|
12/3/1997 |
Washington |
Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe |
|
|
3/1/2000 |
Kansas |
Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma |
|
|
12/22/2000 |
Connecticut |
Mashantucket Pequot Tribe of Connecticut |
|
|
11/25/2008 |
New York |
Onondaga Nation |
|
|
10/11/2011 |
Alaska |
Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes |
|
|
5/1/2012 |
Oregon |
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation; Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon |
|
|
5/1/2012 |
Oregon |
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation; Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon |
|
|
3/29/2013 |
Oregon |
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation; Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon |
|
|
3/29/2013 |
Oregon |
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation; Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon |
|
|
6/24/2014 |
Hawaii |
Hui Malama I Na Kupuna 'O Hawai'i Nei; Office of Hawaiian Affairs |
|
|
1/7/2016 |
Kansas |
Kaw Nation, Oklahoma |
|
|
1/7/2016 |
Alabama |
Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas; Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town; Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana; Muscogee (Creek) Nation |
|
|
5/11/2016 |
Alaska |
Yakutat Tlingit Tribe |
|
|
11/28/2016 |
Alaska |
Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes |
|
|
12/2/2016 |
South Dakota |
Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation, South Dakota |
|
|
12/2/2016 |
Alaska |
Native Village of Eyak; Native Village of Nanwalek; Native Village of Port Graham; Native Village of Tatitlek |
|
|
12/2/2016 |
Alaska |
Holy Cross Village |
|
|
12/2/2016 |
Alaska |
Village of Anaktuvuk Pass |
|
|
12/2/2016 |
Alaska |
Village of Anaktuvuk Pass |
|
|
12/2/2016 |
Alaska |
Native Village of Barrow |
|
|
2/24/2017 |
Wyoming |
Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes, OK; Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, WY |
|
|
5/3/2017 |
North Dakota |
Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, ND |
|
|
5/3/2017 |
North Dakota |
Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, ND |
|
|
8/22/2017 |
Alaska |
Anvik Village |
|
|
1/30/2018 |
North Dakota |
Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation, South Dakota |
|
|
1/30/2018 |
Kansas |
Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes, OK; Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, WY |
|
|
7/12/2022 |
Mississippi |
Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas; Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town; Chickasaw Nation; Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; Jena Band of Choctaw Indians; Miami Tribe of Oklahoma; Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians; Muscogee (Creek) Nation; Osage Nation; Quapaw Nation; Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana |
|
|
2/24/2023 |
New Mexico |
Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Reservation, New Mexico; Okhay Owingeh, New Mexico; Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo of Cochiti, New Mexico; Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico; Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico; Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico; Pueblo of Nambe, New Mexico; Pueblo of Picuris, New Mexico; Pueblo of Pojoaque, New Mexico; Pueblo of San Felipe, New Mexico; Pueblo of San Ildefonso, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santa Ana, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico; Pueblo of Taos, New Mexico; Pueblo of Tesuque, New Mexico; Pueblo of Zia, New Mexico; Santo Domingo Pueblo; Ysleta del Sur Pueblo; and the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico |
|
|
5/24/2024 |
California |
Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians of the Santa Ynez Reservation, California |
|
|
10/22/2024 |
California |
Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians of the Santa Ynez Reservation, California |
|
|
10/22/2024 |
California |
Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians of the Santa Ynez Reservation, California |
|
|
11/12/2024 |
Maine |
Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians; Mi'kmaq Nation; Passamaquoddy Tribe; and the Penobscot Nation |
|
|
11/12/2024 |
Maine |
Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians; Mi'kmaq Nation; Passamaquoddy Tribe; and the Penobscot Nation |
Consultation
Consultation is a crucial component of the NAGPRA process. At the Peabody Museum, consultations aim to establish open lines of communication and collaboration with tribal entities and descendants. Consultations can take several forms, such as in-person visits, phone calls, remote meetings, and mailed or emailed correspondence. During consultation, the Museum will provide tribal entities and descendants the opportunity to physically view collections, documentation, and archival records. Subsequent conversations will seek to discuss the return of ancestral remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony. Ultimately, consultations often result in the request or claim for repatriation of ancestor remains and/or cultural items.
Consultation is typically initiated one of two ways. Most frequently, the YPM repatriation team will invite Indian Tribes, Native Hawaiian Organizations, and lineal descendants to participate in consultations.
Tribes, Native Hawaiian Organizations, and descendants are also welcome reach out to the repatriation team to request consultation. To initiate consultation, please contact:
|
Jessie Cohen
Repatriation Registrar,
Divisions and Collection Support
+1 203 432 2779
jessie.cohen@yale.edu
|
Consultations and eventual repatriations are often organized using a regional approach. The Museum will invite all Indian Tribes with both modern and aboriginal ties to a particular region in order to solicit a range of knowledge gleaned through communication and collaboration.
The Peabody Museum welcomes consultation visits in-person! Beginning in 2024, the Peabody Museum started providing travel and accommodation funding for Tribal representatives.
Funding is available for two representatives authorized by the Tribe to come to the museum for NAGPRA consultations to determine the cultural affiliation of ancestor and cultural items. The funding will generally include transportation, such as airfare, hotel accommodations, and meals for round-trip travel and up to 3 nights on-site.
Through consultation visits, calls, and written correspondence, the Museum seeks to culturally affiliate ancestor remains and associated funerary objects. The results of these consultations will identify culturally affiliated federally recognized Indian Tribes, Native Hawaiian Organizations, or lineal descendants. Following identification of the culturally affiliated parties, the Museum must submit an inventory, followed by a Notice, in compliance with the NAGPRA regulations.
Written documentation that supports repatriation is reviewed and approved by a limited number of staff in order to expedite the process and protect the confidentiality of sacred Native American traditional knowledge that may be shared during consultation by the consulting parties with the Repatriation Team and supporting collections staff. Following an internal review at the Peabody by the Native American Collection Manager, Head Registrar, and Director of Collections and Research, documentation is approved by the Museum Director, Yale University Office of General Counsel, and Vice Provost for Collections and Scholarly Communication for submission to the National NAGPRA Program and publication to the Federal Register.
Domestic and International Returns
- In 2016, a gut-skin parka from Makarka Point, Alaska, was repatriated to the Chugach Alaska Corporation. The parka will be used by the Chugach people for educational and cultural activities and will be on display in the Native Village of Eyak Cultural Center in Cordova, Alaska.
- Hundreds of cultural objects have been returned to the Mohegan Tribe and Tantaquidgeon Museum in Uncasville, Connecticut. In 2018, Mohegan Chief Many Hearts Lynn Malerba stated: “Today with the return of these sacred objects, wholeness has been restored to our Mohegan people.”
- In June 2018, the remains of 7 Māori ancestors were repatriated to the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. A public ceremony at the Peabody brought together the delegation of Te Papa representatives, Māori elders, Peabody staff, Yale faculty, students from Yale’s Native American Cultural Center, and Chief Many Hearts Lynn Malerba of the Mohegan Tribe.
Repatriation Team
|
Jessie Cohen
Repatriation Registrar,
Divisions and Collection Support
+1 203 432 2779
jessie.cohen@yale.edu
|
|
Kaitlyn Sanders
Repatriation Coordinator,
Collections / Research / Registrar
+1 203 737 3958
kaitlyn.sanders@yale.edu
|
|
Margaret Staudter
Repatriation Coordinator,
Collections / Research / Registrar
+1 203 737 3970
margaret.staudter@yale.edu
|
All formal repatriation requests should be submitted in writing to the Office of the Director.
David Skelly, Director
Office of the Director
Yale Peabody Museum
P.O. Box 208118
New Haven, CT 06520-8118 USA