Harvard Peabody to Repatriate California Native Remains Soon
Published Date: 3/17/2025
Notice
Summary
Harvard’s Peabody Museum just finished checking its collection of human remains and found they belong to Native American tribes and Native Hawaiian groups. This means the museum will work with these communities to return the remains respectfully. If you’re part of these tribes or groups, keep an eye out for updates—this process respects culture and history without any cost to the public.
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Museum to Repatriate Native Remains
If you are a member of one of the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations named in this notice, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard completed a NAGPRA inventory and determined the human remains are culturally affiliated. The remains were collected at the Sherman Institute (Riverside County, CA) and the Carson Indian School (Carson City, NV), and the museum will work with those communities to return the remains respectfully.
Repatriation Will Not Cost the Public
The notice says the repatriation process will respect culture and history without any cost to the public. This means taxpayers are not being charged for the museum's inventory and return work described in the notice.
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Previous / Next Documents
Previous: 2025-04178, Notice of Inventory Completion: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Harvard’s Peabody Museum finished checking its collection and found that some human remains belong to Native American tribes and Native Hawaiian groups. This means the museum will work with these communities to return the remains respectfully. If you’re connected to these tribes, keep an eye out for updates on how and when the remains will be returned.
Next: 2025-04180, Notice of Inventory Completion: Merced College, Merced, CA
Merced College has finished checking its collection of Native American human remains and related items. They found a clear connection to certain Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian groups. This means these items can now be returned to the right communities, following important laws that protect Native heritage.