Two Efforts to Repatriate Sacred Objects and Human Remains

TWO EXAMPLES OF RESPECTFUL AND LONG OVERDUE REPATRIATION:

1) From this article in Pennlive:

For years, visitors to the State Museum of Pennsylvania have been able to tour the museum’s extensive Native American collection, which includes thousands of sacred artifacts from Tribal Nations across the country, as well as funerary objects and human remains.

The exhibit is being dismantled and much of it is now inaccessible to the public as part of the museum’s compliance with a federal law mandating the repatriation of Native American human remains and cultural items held by federal agencies and institutions that receive federal funding.

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has some 908 individual remains and 79,628 funerary objects in its collection, which are subject to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).

Former exhibit at the Pennsylvania State Museum.

2) Government aims to return 19 Carlisle Indian School students’ remains to families. READ ARTICLE HERE

Cemetary at Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Carlisle, PA