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The Repatriation Database Data from Nov. 29, 2023

University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh

Located in Wisconsin

The Univ. of Wisconsin, Oshkosh has the 73rd largest collection of unrepatriated Native American remains in the U.S. The institution reported still having the remains of at least 100 Native Americans that it has not made available for return to tribes.

The institution has made available for return 8% of the more than 100 Native American remains that it reported to the federal government.

remains of 14 Native Americans made available for return to tribes
remains of at least 159 Native Americans not made available for return

Where Native American remains reported by the Univ. of Wisconsin, Oshkosh were taken from

Each county is a peak
Height is the minimum amount of remains taken from county, as reported by institution
Color is reported rate of remains made available for return to tribes
0%100%
Institution reported no remains taken from these counties
Location of institution
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Under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, when an institution establishes a connection between tribes and remains, it must publish a list of the tribes eligible to make a repatriation claim. The remains are then made available for return to the tribe(s). Once a tribal claim is made, physical transfer may occur. Many remains have been physically returned to tribes, but data on this is spotty because the law does not require institutions to report when these transfers occur.

Timeline of Native American remains made available for return to tribes by the Univ. of Wisconsin, Oshkosh

Tribal and institutional capacity, funding, staffing, regulatory changes, audits, Review Committee decisions and litigation may influence timelines. Under NAGPRA, institutions determine whether Native American remains may be returned through cultural affiliation using evidence such as tribal traditional knowledge and biological and archaeological links, or through disposition based on geographic affiliation.

How the Univ. of Wisconsin, Oshkosh compares to other institutions

The amount of Native American remains still held by institutions ranges widely.

The Univ. of Wisconsin, Oshkosh made Native American remains available for return to 60 tribes.

Institutions often make remains available for return to multiple tribes, so the amount of remains listed below may be counted for more than one tribe.
TribeRemains Made Available for Return To
Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin14
Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska14
Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma14
Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin14
Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, Oklahoma14
Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska14
Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana13
Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians of the Bad River Reservation, Wisconsin13
Bay Mills Indian Community, Michigan13
Bois Forte Band (Nett Lake) of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota13
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of the Cheyenne River Reservation, South Dakota13
Chippewa Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy's Reservation, Montana13
Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Oklahoma13
Crow Creek Sioux Tribe of the Crow Creek Reservation, South Dakota13
Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of South Dakota13
Fond du Lac Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota13
Forest County Potawatomi Community, Wisconsin13
Grand Portage Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota13
Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Michigan13
Hannahville Indian Community, Michigan13
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Michigan13
Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas13
Kickapoo Tribe of Indians of the Kickapoo Reservation in Kansas13
Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma13
Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin13
Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Michigan13
Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of the Lac du Flambeau Reservation of Wisconsin13
Leech Lake Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota13
Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana13
Lower Brule Sioux Tribe of the Lower Brule Reservation, South Dakota13
Lower Sioux Indian Community in the State of Minnesota13
Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan13
Miami Tribe of Oklahoma13
Mille Lacs Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota13
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota13
Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, Michigan (formerly the Huron Potawatomi, Inc.)13
Oglala Sioux Tribe13
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Michigan and Indiana13
Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation13
Prairie Island Indian Community in the State of Minnesota13
Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin13
Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Minnesota13
Rosebud Sioux Tribe of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota13
Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska13
Sac and Fox Nation, Oklahoma13
Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa13
Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan13
Santee Sioux Nation, Nebraska13
Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Michigan13
Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesota13
Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation, South Dakota13
Sokaogon Chippewa Community, Wisconsin13
Spirit Lake Tribe, North Dakota13
St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin13
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota13
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota13
Upper Sioux Community, Minnesota13
White Earth Band of Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota13
Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota13
Stockbridge Munsee Community, Wisconsin10

The Univ. of Wisconsin, Oshkosh reported making 72% of more than 300 associated funerary objects available for return to tribes.

The funerary objects were taken along with Native American remains reported by the institution.
241 associated funerary objects made available for return to tribes
at least 92 associated funerary objects not made available for return
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About the Data

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