$1.66 Million Grants for Native American Graves and Repatriation Act

Native News Network Staff in Native Challenges. Discussion »

WASHINGTON – On Thursday, the US Department of the Interior announced that the National Park Service is awarding $1,663,382 in grants to assist American Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages and museums with implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), which assists in the return of human remains and cultural objects to their native people.

Sealaska Heritage Institute, Klukwan Tlingit Kaagwaantaan Clan Repatriated Chilkat Tunic

"Returning cultural items to their inheritors and human beings to their descendants so they may be interred with dignity is unequivocally the right thing to do,"

stated US Department of the Interior Kenneth Salazar.

"With these grants, I am pleased that we are continuing to take steps to right a historic wrong."

"The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act is one of the most important tools we have to address violations of human rights against native nations, individuals and their ancestors,"

said Director Jarvis

"I am proud that the National Park Service plays a key role in implementing this policy of protection for American Indian and Native Hawaiian peoples and culture."

Of the total Fiscal Year 2012 grant allocations, the Park Service is awarding $1,559,888 to 21 recipients for projects to support the efforts of museums, Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations in the documentation of NAGPRA-related objects (consultation/documentation grants), while the remaining $103,494 is going to 10 recipients for costs associated with the return of the remains and objects to their native people (repatriation grants).

Thursday's funding is in addition to FY12 grants announced in February that will assist in the repatriation of over 150 individuals and over 15,000 sacred objects, objects of cultural patrimony and funerary objects back to the tribes.

Enacted in 1990, NAGPRA requires museums and federal agencies to inventory and identify Native American human remains and cultural items in their collections, and to consult with culturally affiliated Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages and corporations, and Native Hawaiian organizations regarding the return of these objects to descendants or culturally affiliated tribes and other organizations. The Act also authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to award grants to assist in implementing provisions of the Act.

Projects funded by the grant program include consultations to identify and affiliate individuals and cultural items, training for both museum and tribal staff on NAGPRA, digitizing collection records for consultation, consultations regarding culturally significant unaffiliated individuals, as well as the preparation and transport of items back to their native people.

NAGPRA Consultation Grant Recipients

Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University, CA
$49,800

Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, AZ
$89,671

Ball State University, IN
$90,000

Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria, CA
$89,990

Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, WA
$89,882

Delaware Tribe of Indians, OK
$89,554

Denver Museum of Nature & Science, CO
$39,676

Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians, CA
$63,682

Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, City of Fort Collins, CO
$57,522

Karuk Tribe, CA
$88,673

Museum of the American Indian, CA
$90,000

Museum of Natural History, University of Colorado, CO
$36,749

Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, Heritage Program, OR
$82,260

Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, MA
$90,000

Smith River Rancheria, CA
$90,000

State University of New York, NY
$49,500

University of Denver Museum of Anthropology, CO
$76,453

University of Montana, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, MT
$89,066

University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI
$27,410

Wiyot Tribe, CA
$90,000

Yurok Tribe, CA
$90,000

NAGPRA Repatriation Grant Recipients

Cheyenne and Arapahoe Tribes, OK
$15,000

History Colorado, CO
$15,000

History Colorado, CO
$15,000

Pratt Museum (Homer Society of Natural History, Inc.), AK
$4,723

Ione Band of Miwok Indians, CA
$13,450

Karuk Tribe, CA
$13,400

Pit River Tribe, CA
$6,096

Peabody Museum, Harvard University, MA
$7,232

Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan, MI
$13,593

posted August 3, 2012 9:40 am edt