Salazar, Jarvis Announce $1.66 Million in Grants Under Native American Graves and Repatriation Act

08/02/2012

Last edited 09/05/2019

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis today announced that the National Park Service is awarding $1,663,382 in grants to assist Native American tribes, Alaska Native villages and museums with implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), which assists in the return of human remains and cultural objects to their native people.

“Returning cultural items to their inheritors and human beings to their descendants so they may be interred with dignity is unequivocally the right thing to do,” Secretary Salazar said. “With these grants, I am pleased that we are continuing to take steps to right a historic wrong.”

“The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act is one of the most important tools we have to address violations of human rights against native nations, individuals and their ancestors,” said Director Jarvis. “I am proud that the National Park Service plays a key role in implementing this policy of protection for American Indian and Native Hawaiian peoples and culture.”

Of the total Fiscal Year 2012 grant allocations, the Park Service is awarding $1,559,888 to 21 recipients for projects to support the efforts of museums, Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations in the documentation of NAGPRA-related objects (consultation/documentation grants), while the remaining $103,494 is going to 10 recipients for costs associated with the return of the remains and objects to their native people (repatriation grants).

Today's funding is in addition to FY12 grants announced in February that will assist in the repatriation of over 150 individuals and over 15,000 sacred objects, objects of cultural patrimony and funerary objects back to the tribes.

Enacted in 1990, NAGPRA requires museums and federal agencies to inventory and identify Native American human remains and cultural items in their collections, and to consult with culturally affiliated Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages and corporations, and Native Hawaiian organizations regarding the return of these objects to descendants or culturally affiliated tribes and other organizations. The Act also authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to award grants to assist in implementing provisions of the Act.

Projects funded by the grant program include consultations to identify and affiliate individuals and cultural items, training for both museum and tribal staff on NAGPRA, digitizing collection records for consultation, consultations regarding culturally significant unaffiliated individuals, as well as the preparation and transport of items back to their native people.

FY2012 NAGPRA Consultation Grant Recipients

Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University	CA	$49,800
Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona	AZ	$89,671
Ball State University	IN	$90,000
Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria	CA	$89,990
Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington	WA	$89,882
Delaware Tribe of Indians	OK	$89,554
Denver Museum of Nature & Science	CO	$39,676
Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians	CA	$63,682
Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, City of Fort Collins	CO	$57,522
Karuk Tribe	CA	$88,673
Museum of the American Indian	CA	$90,000
Museum of Natural History, University of Colorado	CO	$36,749
Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, Heritage Program	OR	$82,260
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University	MA	$90,000
Smith River Rancheria	CA	$90,000
State University of New York	NY	$49,500
University of Denver Museum of Anthropology	CO	$76,453
University of Montana, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs	MT	$89,066
University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	$27,410
Wiyot Tribe	CA	$90,000
Yurok Tribe	CA	$90,000
Subtotal – consultation grants		$1,559,888

FY2012 NAGPRA Repatriation Grant Recipients

Cheyenne and Arapahoe Tribes	OK	$15,000
History Colorado	CO	$15,000
History Colorado	CO	$15,000
Pratt Museum (Homer Society of Natural History, Inc.)	AK	$4,723
Ione Band of Miwok Indians	CA	$13,450
Karuk Tribe	CA	$13,400
Pit River Tribe	CA	$6,096
Peabody Museum, Harvard University	MA	$7,232
Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan	MI	$13,593
Subtotal – repatriation grants		$103,494