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The Repatriation Database Data from Nov. 29, 2023

Arkansas

Institutions reported making 82% of the more than 4,900 Native American remains taken from Arkansas available for return to tribes under NAGPRA.

remains of 4,085 Native Americans made available for return to tribes
remains of at least 902 Native Americans not made available for return

There are nine institutions located in Arkansas that reported Native American remains taken from across the country.

InstitutionRemains Not Made Available for ReturnRemains Made Available for Return% of Remains Made Available for Return
University of Arkansas973,26397%
U.S. Department of the Interior843529%
U.S. Department of Defense748854%
Shiloh Museum of Ozark History2467%
City of Fort Smith100%
Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, Toltec Mounds Archeological Park015100%
Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department0133100%
Arkansas State University Museum0157100%
U.S. Department of Agriculture059100%

There are 47 institutions that reported Native American remains taken from Arkansas.

InstitutionRemains Not Made Available for ReturnRemains Made Available for Return% of Remains Made Available for Return
University of Alabama Museums20600%
Harvard University15132%
Indiana University1073022%
U.S. Department of the Interior843529%
U.S. Department of Defense598860%
Field Museum5400%
University of Arkansas483,19399%
Rochester Museum and Science Center4400%
American Museum of Natural History4000%
University of Missouri, Columbia, Museum of Anthropology3900%
New York State Museum2200%
University of Oklahoma9847%
Hastings Museum7330%
Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology, Phillips Academy600%
Buffalo Museum of Science400%
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Division of Archaeology400%
Nassau County Department of Parks and Recreation300%
University of Memphis300%
Gilcrease Museum228799%
University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology200%
Bridgewater College100%
City of Fort Smith100%
Kansas City Museum100%
Missouri Historical Society100%
University of Louisiana at Monroe100%
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill100%
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology100%
West Texas A and M University, Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum100%
Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, Toltec Mounds Archeological Park015100%
Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department0133100%
Arkansas State University Museum0157100%
Beloit College, Logan Museum of Anthropology02100%
Carnegie Museum of Natural History01100%
Colgate University, Longyear Museum of Anthropology02100%
Denver Museum of Nature and Science01100%
Illinois State Museum021100%
Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism01100%
McWane Science Center01100%
Memphis Pink Palace Museum06100%
Museum of Natural History and Planetarium01100%
New York University, College of Dentistry08100%
Shiloh Museum of Ozark History04100%
Springfield Science Museum02100%
U.S. Department of Agriculture059100%
University of Iowa, Office of the State Archaeologist02100%
University of South Florida01100%
University of Tulsa, Department of Anthropology021100%
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.

Institutions made Native American remains taken from Arkansas available for return to nine 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 Tribe
Quapaw Nation2,643
Caddo Nation of Oklahoma1,127
Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe395
Osage Nation301
Cherokee Nation14
United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma14
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma12
Kaw Nation, Oklahoma2
Shawnee Tribe1

Institutions reported Native American remains taken from 69 counties in Arkansas.

CountyRemains Taken From County Not Made Available for ReturnRemains Made Available for Return% of Remains Made Available for Return
Cross County15232868%
Mississippi County10447982%
Union County484749%
Poinsett County4054593%
Phillips County371427%
Searcy County36512%
Newton County315062%
Craighead County3025089%
Marion County18831%
St. Francis County183566%
Clark County911893%
Hot Spring County910292%
Benton County81565%
Crittenden County627298%
Sevier County6754%
Arkansas County52985%
Bradley County42285%
Conway County41173%
Garland County42787%
Scott County44391%
Ashley County24195%
Baxter County2467%
Chicot County21990%
Crawford County2360%
Jefferson County2880%
Lafayette County21083%
Logan County2880%
Madison County11594%
Miller County1398100%
Montgomery County1788%
Pope County12696%
Saline County1686%
White County13097%
Yell County12296%
Boone County02100%
Calhoun County06100%
Carroll County09100%
Clay County011100%
Cleveland County02100%
Columbia County01100%
Dallas County01100%
Desha County01100%
Drew County0161100%
Faulkner County01100%
Franklin County04100%
Grant County02100%
Greene County016100%
Hempstead County042100%
Howard County018100%
Independence County056100%
Izard County08100%
Jackson County024100%
Johnson County03100%
Lawrence County036100%
Lee County042100%
Little River County082100%
Lonoke County025100%
Monroe County022100%
Ouachita County031100%
Perry County01100%
Pike County01100%
Prairie County013100%
Pulaski County089100%
Randolph County010100%
Sebastian County01100%
Stone County06100%
Van Buren County01100%
Washington County08100%
Woodruff County03100%
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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