Harvard Peabody Sends Back Round Valley Tribe's Sherman Institute Hair
Published Date: 3/18/2025
Notice
Summary
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.
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Peabody Museum to Repatriate Hair Remains
The Peabody Museum has identified human remains (hair clippings) from one Native American individual recorded as age 19 and named “Ukie,” taken at the Sherman Institute between 1930 and 1933 and donated to the museum in 1935. The museum determined the remains are affiliated with the Round Valley Indian Tribes and repatriation may occur on or after April 17, 2025.
Who Can Request Repatriation and How
Written requests for repatriation may be submitted to the Peabody Museum by the Round Valley Indian Tribes, by any lineal descendant, or by any Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization that shows by a preponderance of the evidence that it is a lineal descendant or culturally affiliated. If competing requests are received, the museum must determine the most appropriate requestor; joint repatriation requests count as a single request.
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Previous / Next Documents
Previous: 2025-04380, 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 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.
Next: 2025-04382, Notice of Intended Repatriation: University of Tennessee, McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture, Knoxville, TN
The University of Tennessee’s McClung Museum plans to return 57 cultural items, like pottery and stone tools, to the Chickasaw Nation because these items belong to their ancestors. These objects were dug up in Tennessee back in 1939 and will be repatriated starting April 17, 2025. This respectful move honors Native American heritage and strengthens community ties without any cost impact.