College Museum Preps to Return Sacred Items to Tribes
Published Date: 12/19/2025
Notice
Summary
The James B. and Rosalyn L. Pick Museum at Northern Illinois University plans to return 13 sacred Native American items, including medicine bundles and a shield, to the Navajo tribe starting January 20, 2026. This repatriation respects Native traditions and helps restore important cultural objects to their rightful communities. No money changes hands, but the museum is taking a big step to honor Native American heritage.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Museum to Return 13 Navajo Sacred Items
The James B. and Rosalyn L. Pick Museum intends to repatriate 13 sacred objects (medicine bundles catalog nos. 72-11-2 to 72-11-13 and one shield catalog no. 69-35-24) that the museum recorded as Navajo. The repatriation may occur on or after January 20, 2026 and is being carried out under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).
Who Can Request Repatriation
Any lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization may submit a written request for repatriation of the items by showing, by a preponderance of the evidence, that they are a lineal descendant or a culturally affiliated group. If competing requests are received, the Pick Museum must determine the most appropriate requestor; requests for joint repatriation are treated as a single request.
Museum Determines Items Are Sacred and Navajo-Affiliated
The Pick Museum determined the 13 objects meet the definition of sacred objects/objects of cultural patrimony under Native American traditional knowledge and identified a cultural affiliation with the Navajo Nation (Arizona, New Mexico, & Utah). That determination is the museum's basis for repatriation under NAGPRA.
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