Peabody Museum Repatriates Wailaki Youth's Historic Hair Clippings
Published Date: 3/18/2025
Notice
Summary
Harvard’s Peabody Museum has finished checking its collection and found some Native American hair clippings from a young Wailaki individual taken in California long ago. These remains are linked to the Grindstone Indian Rancheria tribe, and they can be returned starting April 17, 2025. This means the museum is ready to give back these important cultural items to the right Native community.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Repatriation available to Grindstone Tribe
The Peabody Museum has identified hair clippings from one Wailaki individual collected at the Sherman Institute (between 1930 and 1933) as affiliated with the Grindstone Indian Rancheria of Wintun-Wailaki Indians of California. The museum may repatriate these human remains to the Grindstone Indian Rancheria on or after April 17, 2025.
Who may request repatriation
Written repatriation requests may be made by any one or more of the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations identified in the notice, by any lineal descendant, or by any tribe/organization not listed that proves by a preponderance of the evidence it is a lineal descendant or culturally affiliated. Requests must be sent to the Peabody Museum official listed in the notice.
How competing repatriation requests are handled
If competing requests for these human remains are received, the Peabody Museum must determine the most appropriate requestor before repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation are treated as a single request rather than competing requests.
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Previous: 2025-04379, Notice of Inventory Completion: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Harvard's Peabody Museum has finished checking its collection and found two Native American hair samples from the Flandreau Indian School in South Dakota. These remains are linked to the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and will be returned to them starting April 17, 2025. This means the museum is doing its part to respect Native American heritage and return important cultural items.
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Harvard’s Peabody Museum has finished checking its collection and found Native American hair remains linked to the Round Valley Indian Tribes in California. These remains, collected long ago at the Sherman Institute, can be returned starting April 17, 2025. This means the museum is ready to give back these important cultural items to the right community, respecting their heritage and history.