Colorado
Institutions reported making 87% of the more than 4,100 Native American remains taken from Colorado available for return to tribes under NAGPRA.
There are 28 institutions located in Colorado that reported Native American remains taken from across the country.
Institution | Remains Not Made Available for Return | Remains Made Available for Return | % of Remains Made Available for Return |
---|---|---|---|
Trinidad State Junior College | 62 | 0 | 0% |
Museum of Western Colorado | 53 | 0 | 0% |
University of Colorado, Denver, Department of Anthropology | 40 | 0 | 0% |
Western Colorado University | 40 | 0 | 0% |
Fort Lewis College | 30 | 134 | 82% |
Metropolitan State University of Denver, Department of Anthropology | 13 | 0 | 0% |
Rocky Ford Historical Museum | 5 | 0 | 0% |
Koshare Indian Museum, Inc. | 4 | 0 | 0% |
U.S. Department of Agriculture | 2 | 63 | 97% |
Denver Museum of Nature and Science | 1 | 153 | 99% |
Tread of Pioneers Museum | 1 | 0 | 0% |
U.S. Department of the Interior | 1 | 2,438 | 100% |
Adams State University, Luther Bean Museum | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Animas Museum | 0 | 61 | 100% |
Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Colorado Archaeological Society, Denver Chapter | 0 | 7 | 100% |
Colorado Bureau of Investigation | 0 | 3 | 100% |
Colorado College | 0 | 45 | 100% |
Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum | 0 | 4 | 100% |
Colorado State University | 0 | 79 | 100% |
Delta County Historical Society Museum | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Denver Art Museum | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Fort Collins Museum of Discovery | 0 | 19 | 100% |
History Colorado | 0 | 1,181 | 100% |
Pioneer Historical Society of Bent County | 0 | 3 | 100% |
University of Colorado Museum | 0 | 695 | 100% |
University of Denver, Museum of Anthropology | 0 | 170 | 100% |
University of Northern Colorado | 0 | 31 | 100% |
There are 61 institutions that reported Native American remains taken from Colorado.
Institution | Remains Not Made Available for Return | Remains Made Available for Return | % of Remains Made Available for Return |
---|---|---|---|
Harvard University | 152 | 10 | 6% |
American Museum of Natural History | 73 | 1 | 1% |
Trinidad State Junior College | 50 | 0 | 0% |
Field Museum | 46 | 0 | 0% |
University of Colorado, Denver, Department of Anthropology | 40 | 0 | 0% |
Fort Lewis College | 30 | 94 | 76% |
Western Colorado University | 29 | 0 | 0% |
University of California, Berkeley | 22 | 0 | 0% |
University of New Mexico, Maxwell Museum of Anthropology | 18 | 0 | 0% |
University of Arizona, Arizona State Museum | 15 | 0 | 0% |
Metropolitan State University of Denver, Department of Anthropology | 13 | 0 | 0% |
Hastings Museum | 9 | 0 | 0% |
West Texas A and M University, Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum | 8 | 0 | 0% |
Natural History Museum of Utah | 6 | 0 | 0% |
Wichita State University, Department of Anthropology | 6 | 0 | 0% |
Museum of New Mexico, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture | 5 | 0 | 0% |
Milwaukee Public Museum | 3 | 0 | 0% |
Buffalo Museum of Science | 2 | 0 | 0% |
Dartmouth College, Hood Museum of Art | 2 | 0 | 0% |
Rocky Ford Historical Museum | 2 | 0 | 0% |
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Center for Archaeological Investigations | 2 | 0 | 0% |
U.S. Department of Agriculture | 2 | 61 | 97% |
University of Kentucky, William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology | 2 | 0 | 0% |
Denver Museum of Nature and Science | 1 | 22 | 96% |
Florida State University, Department of Anthropology | 1 | 0 | 0% |
Illinois State Museum | 1 | 0 | 0% |
Kalamazoo Valley Museum | 1 | 0 | 0% |
Kansas City Museum | 1 | 0 | 0% |
Museum of Texas Tech University | 1 | 0 | 0% |
Putnam Museum | 1 | 1 | 50% |
Rochester Museum and Science Center | 1 | 0 | 0% |
Saint Martin's University Waynick Museum | 1 | 0 | 0% |
Tread of Pioneers Museum | 1 | 0 | 0% |
U.S. Department of the Interior | 1 | 2,153 | 100% |
University of Nebraska State Museum | 1 | 1 | 50% |
University of Texas, El Paso, Centennial Museum | 1 | 0 | 0% |
Yale University, Peabody Museum of Natural History | 1 | 0 | 0% |
Adams State University, Luther Bean Museum | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Animas Museum | 0 | 57 | 100% |
Central Michigan University, Museum of Cultural and Natural History | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Colorado Archaeological Society, Denver Chapter | 0 | 7 | 100% |
Colorado Bureau of Investigation | 0 | 3 | 100% |
Colorado College | 0 | 16 | 100% |
Colorado State University | 0 | 27 | 100% |
Delta County Historical Society Museum | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Fort Collins Museum of Discovery | 0 | 17 | 100% |
History Colorado | 0 | 686 | 100% |
Indiana University | 0 | 8 | 100% |
Karshner Museum | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Michigan State University | 0 | 3 | 100% |
Pioneer Historical Society of Bent County | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology, Phillips Academy | 0 | 1 | 100% |
U.S. Department of Defense | 0 | 47 | 100% |
University of Colorado Museum | 0 | 336 | 100% |
University of Denver, Museum of Anthropology | 0 | 40 | 100% |
University of Iowa, Office of the State Archaeologist | 0 | 2 | 100% |
University of Maine | 0 | 1 | 100% |
University of Northern Colorado | 0 | 31 | 100% |
University of San Diego | 0 | 1 | 100% |
University of Texas at Austin, Texas Archeological Research Laboratory | 0 | 2 | 100% |
University of Wyoming | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Institutions made Native American remains taken from Colorado available for return to 83 tribes.
Tribe | Remains Made Available for Return to Tribe |
---|---|
Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico | 2,918 |
Hopi Tribe of Arizona | 2,805 |
Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico | 2,769 |
Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico | 2,766 |
Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico (formerly the Pueblo of San Juan) | 2,763 |
Pueblo of San Ildefonso, New Mexico | 2,763 |
Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico | 2,763 |
Pueblo of Zia, New Mexico | 2,755 |
Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico | 2,754 |
Pueblo of Nambe, New Mexico | 2,747 |
Pueblo of Picuris, New Mexico | 2,747 |
Pueblo of Pojoaque, New Mexico | 2,747 |
Pueblo of Tesuque, New Mexico | 2,747 |
Pueblo of Taos, New Mexico | 2,746 |
Pueblo of Santa Ana, New Mexico | 2,342 |
Pueblo of Cochiti, New Mexico | 2,337 |
Pueblo of San Felipe, New Mexico | 2,328 |
Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico | 2,327 |
Pueblo of Sandia, New Mexico | 2,322 |
Santo Domingo Pueblo | 2,322 |
Ysleta del Sur Pueblo | 2,321 |
Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah | 1,576 |
Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado | 571 |
Ute Mountain Ute Tribe | 567 |
Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, Oklahoma | 455 |
Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana | 430 |
Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma | 406 |
Comanche Nation, Oklahoma | 403 |
Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, Utah | 364 |
Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma | 358 |
Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma | 349 |
Oglala Sioux Tribe | 343 |
Rosebud Sioux Tribe of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota | 343 |
Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota | 297 |
Northern Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming | 254 |
Jicarilla Apache Nation, New Mexico | 210 |
Apache Tribe of Oklahoma | 123 |
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota | 117 |
Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Reservation, New Mexico | 99 |
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of the Cheyenne River Reservation, South Dakota | 98 |
Crow Tribe of Montana | 69 |
Crow Creek Sioux Tribe of the Crow Creek Reservation, South Dakota | 49 |
Lower Brule Sioux Tribe of the Lower Brule Reservation, South Dakota | 44 |
Lower Sioux Indian Community in the State of Minnesota | 44 |
Prairie Island Indian Community in the State of Minnesota | 44 |
Santee Sioux Nation, Nebraska | 44 |
Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesota | 44 |
Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation, South Dakota | 44 |
Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota | 44 |
Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana | 29 |
Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of South Dakota | 29 |
Spirit Lake Tribe, North Dakota | 29 |
Upper Sioux Community, Minnesota | 29 |
Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco and Tawakonie), Oklahoma | 23 |
Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah | 22 |
Eastern Shoshone Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming | 20 |
Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians of Utah | 19 |
San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe of Arizona | 4 |
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation | 4 |
Colorado River Indian Tribes of the Colorado River Indian Reservation, Arizona and California | 3 |
Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, Arizona | 3 |
Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma | 3 |
Osage Nation | 3 |
Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma | 3 |
Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska | 3 |
Sac and Fox Nation, Oklahoma | 3 |
Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa | 3 |
San Carlos Apache Tribe of the San Carlos Reservation, Arizona | 3 |
Tonto Apache Tribe of Arizona | 3 |
White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation, Arizona | 3 |
Yavapai-Apache Nation of the Camp Verde Indian Reservation, Arizona | 3 |
Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana | 2 |
Bishop Paiute Tribe | 1 |
Duckwater Shoshone Tribe of the Duckwater Reservation, Nevada | 1 |
Ely Shoshone Tribe of Nevada | 1 |
Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribes of the Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation, Nevada and Oregon | 1 |
Lineal Descendant | 1 |
Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Tribe | 1 |
Paiute-Shoshone Tribe of the Fallon Reservation and Colony, Nevada | 1 |
Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation, Nevada | 1 |
Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone Indians of Nevada | 1 |
Timbisha Shoshone Tribe | 1 |
Yomba Shoshone Tribe of the Yomba Reservation, Nevada | 1 |
Institutions reported Native American remains taken from 53 counties in Colorado.
County | Remains Taken From County Not Made Available for Return | Remains Made Available for Return | % of Remains Made Available for Return |
---|---|---|---|
La Plata County | 166 | 291 | 64% |
Montezuma County | 150 | 2,359 | 94% |
Las Animas County | 47 | 56 | 54% |
Dolores County | 5 | 108 | 96% |
Alamosa County | 3 | 8 | 73% |
Logan County | 2 | 5 | 71% |
Archuleta County | 1 | 185 | 99% |
Bent County | 1 | 3 | 75% |
Cheyenne County | 1 | 1 | 50% |
Hinsdale County | 1 | 0 | 0% |
Huerfano County | 1 | 4 | 80% |
Jefferson County | 1 | 71 | 99% |
Moffat County | 1 | 8 | 89% |
Prowers County | 1 | 1 | 50% |
San Miguel County | 1 | 0 | 0% |
Weld County | 1 | 55 | 98% |
Yuma County | 1 | 1 | 50% |
Adams County | 0 | 24 | 100% |
Arapahoe County | 0 | 7 | 100% |
Baca County | 0 | 3 | 100% |
Boulder County | 0 | 11 | 100% |
Chaffee County | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Clear Creek County | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Conejos County | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Costilla County | 0 | 6 | 100% |
Crowley County | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Custer County | 0 | 2 | 100% |
Delta County | 0 | 2 | 100% |
Denver County | 0 | 3 | 100% |
Douglas County | 0 | 7 | 100% |
Eagle County | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Elbert County | 0 | 2 | 100% |
El Paso County | 0 | 9 | 100% |
Fremont County | 0 | 10 | 100% |
Garfield County | 0 | 2 | 100% |
Gilpin County | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Gunnison County | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Kiowa County | 0 | 6 | 100% |
Larimer County | 0 | 62 | 100% |
Lincoln County | 0 | 11 | 100% |
Mesa County | 0 | 11 | 100% |
Montrose County | 0 | 8 | 100% |
Morgan County | 0 | 8 | 100% |
Ouray County | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Park County | 0 | 2 | 100% |
Pueblo County | 0 | 16 | 100% |
Rio Blanco County | 0 | 10 | 100% |
Rio Grande County | 0 | 2 | 100% |
Routt County | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Saguache County | 0 | 12 | 100% |
San Juan County | 0 | 4 | 100% |
Sedgwick County | 0 | 2 | 100% |
Washington County | 0 | 3 | 100% |
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