University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
The Univ. of Pennsylvania has the 43rd largest collection of unrepatriated Native American remains in the U.S. The institution reported still having the remains of at least 400 Native Americans that it has not made available for return to tribes.
The institution has made available for return 36% of the more than 600 Native American remains that it reported to the federal government.
Where Native American remains reported by the Univ. of Pennsylvania were taken from
Timeline of Native American remains made available for return to tribes by the Univ. of Pennsylvania
How the Univ. of Pennsylvania compares to other institutions
The Univ. of Pennsylvania made Native American remains available for return to 102 tribes.
Tribe | Remains Made Available for Return To |
---|---|
Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai'i Nei | 72 |
Office of Hawaiian Affairs | 72 |
O'ahu Island Burial Council | 67 |
Chugach Alaska Corporation | 64 |
Hawaii Island Burial Council | 64 |
Kauai/Niihau Island Burial Council | 62 |
Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, Oklahoma | 23 |
Kialegee Tribal Town | 23 |
Muscogee (Creek) Nation | 23 |
Poarch Band of Creek Indians | 23 |
Thlopthlocco Tribal Town | 23 |
Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana | 22 |
Miccosukee Tribe of Indians | 22 |
Seminole Tribe of Florida | 22 |
The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma | 22 |
Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas | 20 |
Miami Tribe of Oklahoma | 12 |
Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma | 12 |
Delaware Nation, Oklahoma | 11 |
Delaware Tribe of Indians | 11 |
Stockbridge Munsee Community, Wisconsin | 11 |
Cherokee Nation | 7 |
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians | 7 |
Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin | 7 |
United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma | 7 |
Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians of California | 5 |
Santa Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California | 5 |
Table Mountain Rancheria | 5 |
Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation, California | 5 |
Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians of the Tuolumne Rancheria of California | 5 |
Wyandotte Nation | 5 |
Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Oklahoma | 4 |
Forest County Potawatomi Community, Wisconsin | 4 |
Hannahville Indian Community, Michigan | 4 |
Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, Michigan (formerly the Huron Potawatomi, Inc.) | 4 |
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Michigan and Indiana | 4 |
Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation | 4 |
Cayuga Nation | 3 |
Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan | 3 |
Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma | 3 |
Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska | 3 |
Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians of the Bad River Reservation, Wisconsin | 2 |
Chickasaw Nation | 2 |
Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana | 2 |
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma | 2 |
Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin | 2 |
Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe | 2 |
Jena Band of Choctaw Indians | 2 |
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Michigan | 2 |
Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin | 2 |
Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Michigan | 2 |
Leech Lake Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota | 2 |
Lower Elwha Tribal Community | 2 |
Mille Lacs Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota | 2 |
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians | 2 |
Oneida Indian Nation in New York | 2 |
Oneida Nation of Wisconsin | 2 |
Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe | 2 |
Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin | 2 |
White Earth Band of Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota | 2 |
Bay Mills Indian Community, Michigan | 1 |
Bois Forte Band (Nett Lake) of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota | 1 |
Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes | 1 |
Chilkat Indian Village (Klukwan) | 1 |
Chilkoot Indian Association (Haines) | 1 |
Chippewa Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy's Reservation, Montana | 1 |
Comanche Nation, Oklahoma | 1 |
Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of South Dakota | 1 |
Fond du Lac Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota | 1 |
Grand Portage Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota | 1 |
Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Michigan | 1 |
Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas | 1 |
Kickapoo Tribe of Indians of the Kickapoo Reservation in Kansas | 1 |
Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma | 1 |
Klamath Tribes | 1 |
Kotzebue, Native Village of | 1 |
Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of the Lac du Flambeau Reservation of Wisconsin | 1 |
Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Michigan | 1 |
Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Michigan | 1 |
Lower Sioux Indian Community in the State of Minnesota | 1 |
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota | 1 |
Modoc Nation | 1 |
Osage Nation | 1 |
Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma | 1 |
Prairie Island Indian Community in the State of Minnesota | 1 |
Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Minnesota | 1 |
Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska | 1 |
Sac and Fox Nation, Oklahoma | 1 |
Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa | 1 |
Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan | 1 |
Santee Sioux Nation, Nebraska | 1 |
Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Michigan | 1 |
Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesota | 1 |
Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation, South Dakota | 1 |
Sitka Tribe of Alaska | 1 |
Sokaogon Chippewa Community, Wisconsin | 1 |
Spirit Lake Tribe, North Dakota | 1 |
St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin | 1 |
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota | 1 |
Unalakleet, Native Village of | 1 |
Upper Sioux Community, Minnesota | 1 |
Yakutat Tlingit Tribe | 1 |
The Univ. of Pennsylvania reported making 85% of 75 associated funerary objects available for return to tribes.
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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