Field Museum
Located in Illinois · Read the institution’s response
The Field Museum has the 20th largest collection of unrepatriated Native American remains in the U.S. The institution reported still having the remains of at least 1,200 Native Americans that it has not made available for return to tribes.
The institution has made available for return 30% of the more than 1,800 Native American remains that it reported to the federal government.
Where Native American remains reported by the Field Museum were taken from
Timeline of Native American remains made available for return to tribes by the Field Museum
How the Field Museum compares to other institutions
The Field Museum made Native American remains available for return to 134 tribes.
| Tribe | Remains Made Available for Return To |
|---|---|
| Hopi Tribe of Arizona | 367 |
| Pueblo of Sandia, New Mexico | 87 |
| Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico | 64 |
| Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin | 52 |
| Forest County Potawatomi Community, Wisconsin | 43 |
| Hannahville Indian Community, Michigan | 43 |
| Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan | 43 |
| Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, Michigan (formerly the Huron Potawatomi, Inc.) | 43 |
| Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Michigan and Indiana | 43 |
| Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation | 43 |
| Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas | 42 |
| Kickapoo Tribe of Indians of the Kickapoo Reservation in Kansas | 42 |
| Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma | 42 |
| Miami Tribe of Oklahoma | 42 |
| Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma | 42 |
| Stockbridge Munsee Community, Wisconsin | 38 |
| Delaware Nation, Oklahoma | 37 |
| Delaware Tribe of Indians | 37 |
| Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin | 25 |
| Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska | 25 |
| Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska | 21 |
| Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma | 21 |
| Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, Oklahoma | 21 |
| Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians of the Santa Ynez Reservation, California | 13 |
| Cayuga Nation | 10 |
| Seneca-Cayuga Nation | 10 |
| La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians, California | 9 |
| Pala Band of Mission Indians | 9 |
| Pauma Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pauma and Yuima Reservation, California | 9 |
| Pechanga Band of Indians | 9 |
| Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians | 9 |
| Seneca Nation of Indians | 9 |
| Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians, California | 9 |
| Tonawanda Band of Seneca | 9 |
| White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation, Arizona | 9 |
| Oneida Indian Nation in New York | 7 |
| Oneida Nation of Wisconsin | 7 |
| Onondaga Nation | 7 |
| Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians of California | 7 |
| Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe | 7 |
| Santa Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California | 7 |
| Table Mountain Rancheria | 7 |
| Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation, California | 7 |
| Tuscarora Nation | 7 |
| Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana | 5 |
| Pueblo of Pojoaque, New Mexico | 5 |
| Big Pine Paiute Tribe of the Owens Valley | 4 |
| Burns Paiute Tribe | 4 |
| Chemehuevi Indian Tribe of the Chemehuevi Reservation, California | 4 |
| Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, Oklahoma | 4 |
| Colorado River Indian Tribes of the Colorado River Indian Reservation, Arizona and California | 4 |
| Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, Nevada and Utah | 4 |
| Crow Tribe of Montana | 4 |
| Fort Independence Indian Community of Paiute Indians of the Fort Independence Reservation, California | 4 |
| Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribes of the Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation, Nevada and Oregon | 4 |
| Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians of the Kaibab Indian Reservation, Arizona | 4 |
| Koniag, Inc. | 4 |
| Las Vegas Tribe of Paiute Indians of the Las Vegas Indian Colony, Nevada | 4 |
| Lovelock Paiute Tribe of the Lovelock Indian Colony, Nevada | 4 |
| Moapa Band of Paiute Indians of the Moapa River Indian Reservation, Nevada | 4 |
| Northern Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming | 4 |
| Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico (formerly the Pueblo of San Juan) | 4 |
| Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah | 4 |
| Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico | 4 |
| Pueblo of Cochiti, New Mexico | 4 |
| Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico | 4 |
| Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico | 4 |
| Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico | 4 |
| Pueblo of Nambe, New Mexico | 4 |
| Pueblo of Picuris, New Mexico | 4 |
| Pueblo of San Felipe, New Mexico | 4 |
| Pueblo of San Ildefonso, New Mexico | 4 |
| Pueblo of Santa Ana, New Mexico | 4 |
| Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico | 4 |
| Pueblo of Taos, New Mexico | 4 |
| Pueblo of Tesuque, New Mexico | 4 |
| Pueblo of Zia, New Mexico | 4 |
| Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of the Pyramid Lake Reservation, Nevada | 4 |
| San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe of Arizona | 4 |
| Santo Domingo Pueblo | 4 |
| Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation | 4 |
| Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation, Nevada | 4 |
| Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado | 4 |
| Summit Lake Paiute Tribe of Nevada | 4 |
| Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, Utah | 4 |
| Ute Mountain Ute Tribe | 4 |
| Utu Utu Gwaitu Paiute Tribe of the Benton Paiute Reservation, California | 4 |
| Walker River Paiute Tribe of the Walker River Reservation, Nevada | 4 |
| Yerington Paiute Tribe of the Yerington Colony and Campbell Ranch, Nevada | 4 |
| Ysleta del Sur Pueblo | 4 |
| Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, Oklahoma | 3 |
| Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation | 3 |
| Kialegee Tribal Town | 3 |
| Muscogee (Creek) Nation | 3 |
| Poarch Band of Creek Indians | 3 |
| Teller, Native Village of | 3 |
| Thlopthlocco Tribal Town | 3 |
| Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana | 2 |
| Coquille Indian Tribe | 2 |
| Kootenai Tribe of Idaho | 2 |
| Larsen Bay, Native Village of | 2 |
| Penobscot Nation | 2 |
| Seminole Tribe of Florida | 2 |
| Akhiok, Native Village of | 1 |
| Akhiok-Kaguyak, Inc. | 1 |
| Cape Fox Corporation | 1 |
| Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of the Cheyenne River Reservation, South Dakota | 1 |
| Chippewa Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy's Reservation, Montana | 1 |
| Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Oklahoma | 1 |
| Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation | 1 |
| Crow Creek Sioux Tribe of the Crow Creek Reservation, South Dakota | 1 |
| Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of South Dakota | 1 |
| Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana | 1 |
| Hydaburg Cooperative Association | 1 |
| Kaguyak Village | 1 |
| Karluk, Native Village of | 1 |
| Leisnoi, Inc. | 1 |
| Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana | 1 |
| Lower Brule Sioux Tribe of the Lower Brule Reservation, South Dakota | 1 |
| Lower Sioux Indian Community in the State of Minnesota | 1 |
| Natives of Kodiak, Inc. | 1 |
| Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana | 1 |
| Oglala Sioux Tribe | 1 |
| Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma | 1 |
| Prairie Island Indian Community in the State of Minnesota | 1 |
| Rosebud Sioux Tribe of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota | 1 |
| Santee Sioux Nation, Nebraska | 1 |
| Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesota | 1 |
| Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation, South Dakota | 1 |
| Spirit Lake Tribe, North Dakota | 1 |
| Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota | 1 |
| Sun'aq Tribe of Kodiak | 1 |
| Upper Sioux Community, Minnesota | 1 |
| Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota | 1 |
The Field Museum reported making 31% of more than 1,400 associated funerary objects available for return to tribes.
The Field Museum’s response:
Know how an institution is handling repatriation? Have a personal story to share? We'd like to hear from you.
Watch an informational webinar with our reporters.
This tool presents a dataset maintained by the National Park Service containing all the Native American human remains and associated funerary objects that institutions have reported to the federal government under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The dataset includes information about the state and county where remains and objects were taken from, which institutions hold them and whether they have been made available for return to tribes.
The data is self-reported by institutions. The amount of unrepatriated Native American remains reported by institutions is a minimum estimate of individuals and institutions frequently adjust these numbers when they reinventory groups of remains. Some institutions that are subject to NAGPRA have also entirely failed to report the remains in their possession. As a result, the numbers provided are best taken as estimates. The actual number and geographic scope of what’s held by publicly funded institutions is larger than what is presently documented.
ProPublica supplemented this dataset with information about cultural affiliation and disposition to specific tribes by systematically parsing the text of Notices of Inventory Completion published in the Federal Register. An additional dataset from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Tribal Directory Assessment Tool, was used for the section on remains not made available for return from counties that each tribe has indicated interest in to the federal government.
Institution location and tribal headquarters location information was provided by National NAGPRA. The location of some groups that are not federally recognized was provided through research by ProPublica.
Institutions that are part of a larger entity are grouped. (For example, the Mesa Verde National Park is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior.)
Institutions that have not submitted information to the federal government are not listed. The Smithsonian Institution is not listed because its repatriation process falls under the National Museum of the American Indian Act and it is not required to publicly report its holdings with the same detail as institutions subject to NAGPRA.
If you work for an institution and would like to provide comment on your institution’s repatriation efforts, please email [email protected]. If you think the data is incorrect or have a data request, please get in touch. We are aware of some issues with the accuracy of location information and tribes mistakenly being identified for disposition of Native American remains in published notices.
If you want to share something else with ProPublica, we’d like to hear from you.
If you have questions about implementing or complying with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, get in touch with National NAGPRA or the NAGPRA Community of Practice.
We use the word “tribes” to refer to all groups that institutions made Native American remains available to under NAGPRA. This includes tribes, nations, bands, pueblos, communities, Native Alaskan villages, Native Hawaiian organizations and non-federally recognized groups.
Data sources from Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National NAGPRA Program, the Federal Register, Department of Housing and Development, Tribal Directory Assessment Tool
In a statement, the Field Museum said that data kept by the National Park Service is out of date. (The museum publishes separate data on its website that it says is frequently updated and more accurate.) A spokesperson told ProPublica that “all Native American human remains under NAGPRA are available for return.” The museum's website states, “Outreach, relationship building, and collaboration with descendant communities is part of the repatriation process at the Field Museum.”