1. Working with and benefitting from NAGPRA
Professor Bethany Berger
University of Connecticut School of Law

2. 1867 Surgeon General Circular
History
Thomas Jefferson
1867 Surgeon General Circular
American Museum of Natural History 1897—the Story of Quisuk
The Tunica Biloxi Story
Klukwan Story:
Whalehouse totem

3. Who is subject to NAGPRA?
“Museums” broadly defined
any institution or government agency (including any institution of higher learning) that receives Federal funds and has possession of, or control over, Native American cultural items.
Federal funds includes grants, loans, contracts, etc.
Funds may be received from museum itself, or larger entity of which it is part (e.g., town, university etc.)

4. Who is not subject to NAGPRA?

5. What is subject to NAGPRA?
Native American Human Remains
Physical remains. Does not include items freely given, such as hair woven into nets.
Native American Funerary Objects
Objects intentionally buried with a body. If no longer with body, must show were probably buried with body.
Native American Sacred Objects
Objects used for continuing religious practice
Native American Cultural Patrimony
Objects of central ongoing importance to the Native group

6. “Native American”
Relating to “a tribe, people, or culture that is indigenous to the United States,” including Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians
Kennewick Man

7. What does NAGPRA require for new potential acquisitions?
Prevents excavation of such objects on federal or tribal land, without tribal consent.

8. NAGPRA obligations for museums I
“Summary” of collections that may contain covered items
“Inventory” of human remains and associated funerary items.
Both should be created in consultation with tribes who may have cultural affiliation to the objects or on whose lands the objects were found, and provided to those groups once complete.

9. NAGPRA Requirements for Museums II: Repatriation
Museums must repatriate objects to lineal descendants or culturally affiliated Indian tribes unless:
“Indispensable” to completion of scientific study of “major benefit” to the US
Requests by multiple individuals/groups, and cannot determine who has best affiliation
Objects given by individual or group with authority to give objects
A court has held repatriation would violate 5th Amendment

10. NAGPRA as benefit to museums

11. On Beyond NAGPRA Respectful care and stewardship
Consultation and collaboration
Association of Art Museum Directors 2006 Guidelines
Canadian Government Policy on Sacred and Culturally Sensitive Objects

12. Feel free to contact me at bethany.berger@uconn.edu
Thank you!
Feel free to contact me at