Peabody Museum Prepares to Return Sacred Native Cultural Treasures
Published Date: 4/11/2025
Notice
Summary
Harvard’s Peabody Museum is getting ready to return special cultural items to Native American tribes and Native Hawaiian groups. These items include sacred objects and things connected to their heritage. This important step follows a law that helps honor and respect Native cultures, with no costs or delays expected.
Analyzed Economic Effects
1 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Repatriation of Native Cultural Items
Under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Harvard’s Peabody Museum intends to return certain items that are unassociated funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations named in this notice. The notice says this repatriation is being done in accordance with NAGPRA and that no costs or delays are expected.
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Previous / Next Documents
Previous: 2025-06206, Notice of Inventory Completion: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
The Peabody Museum at Harvard has finished checking its collection and found that some items belong to Native American tribes or Native Hawaiian groups. This means these groups can now ask for their cultural objects to be returned. If you’re part of these communities, keep an eye out for how to claim your heritage items soon!
Next: 2025-06208, Notice of Inventory Completion: Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, CA
The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History has finished checking its collection and found that some human remains belong to Native American tribes or Native Hawaiian groups. This means the museum will work to return these remains to the right communities. This update affects tribes connected to the remains and sets the stage for respectful repatriation soon.