Michigan
Institutions reported making 79% of the more than 3,100 Native American remains taken from Michigan available for return to tribes under NAGPRA.
There are 32 institutions located in Michigan 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 |
---|---|---|---|
University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology | 781 | 894 | 53% |
Grand Rapids Public Museum | 75 | 159 | 68% |
Michigan State Historic Preservation Office | 30 | 27 | 47% |
Cranbrook Institute of Science | 26 | 39 | 60% |
Wayne State University | 20 | 92 | 82% |
Kingman Museum, Inc. | 3 | 7 | 70% |
Alma College | 2 | 1 | 33% |
Central Michigan University, Museum of Cultural and Natural History | 2 | 145 | 99% |
Kalamazoo Valley Museum | 2 | 3 | 60% |
Bay County Historical Society | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Berrien County Sheriff's Office | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan | 0 | 9 | 100% |
City of Saugatuck | 0 | 3 | 100% |
City of Traverse City | 0 | 2 | 100% |
Detroit Institute of Arts | 0 | 23 | 100% |
Grand Valley State University | 0 | 154 | 100% |
Historical Society of Saginaw County, Inc. | 0 | 20 | 100% |
Lakeshore Museum Center | 0 | 9 | 100% |
Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 0 | 8 | 100% |
Michigan Department of Transportation | 0 | 13 | 100% |
Michigan History Center | 0 | 10 | 100% |
Michigan State Police | 0 | 14 | 100% |
Michigan State University | 0 | 544 | 100% |
Michigan Technological University | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Museum of Ojibwa Culture and Marquette Mission Park - City of St. Ignace | 0 | 8 | 100% |
Port Huron Museum | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Sloan Museum | 0 | 9 | 100% |
St Joseph County Sheriff's Department | 0 | 1 | 100% |
The Region of Three Oaks Museum | 0 | 1 | 100% |
U.S. Department of Agriculture | 0 | 1 | 100% |
U.S. Department of the Interior | 0 | 2 | 100% |
Western Michigan University, Department of Anthropology | 0 | 79 | 100% |
There are 52 institutions that reported Native American remains taken from Michigan.
Institution | Remains Not Made Available for Return | Remains Made Available for Return | % of Remains Made Available for Return |
---|---|---|---|
University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology | 561 | 888 | 61% |
Milwaukee Public Museum | 43 | 15 | 26% |
Michigan State Historic Preservation Office | 23 | 27 | 54% |
University of Toledo | 14 | 46 | 77% |
Wayne State University | 14 | 92 | 87% |
Cranbrook Institute of Science | 11 | 39 | 78% |
Alma College | 2 | 1 | 33% |
Grand Rapids Public Museum | 2 | 151 | 99% |
Kingman Museum, Inc. | 2 | 4 | 67% |
Earlham College | 1 | 0 | 0% |
University of California, Berkeley | 1 | 0 | 0% |
American Museum of Natural History | 0 | 43 | 100% |
Bay County Historical Society | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Beloit College, Logan Museum of Anthropology | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Berrien County Sheriff's Office | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan | 0 | 9 | 100% |
Central Michigan University, Museum of Cultural and Natural History | 0 | 144 | 100% |
City of Saugatuck | 0 | 3 | 100% |
City of Traverse City | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Detroit Institute of Arts | 0 | 12 | 100% |
Field Museum | 0 | 42 | 100% |
Grand Valley State University | 0 | 154 | 100% |
Harvard University | 0 | 101 | 100% |
Hastings Museum | 0 | 5 | 100% |
Historical Society of Saginaw County, Inc. | 0 | 20 | 100% |
Kalamazoo Valley Museum | 0 | 3 | 100% |
Lakeshore Museum Center | 0 | 9 | 100% |
Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 0 | 8 | 100% |
Michigan Department of Transportation | 0 | 13 | 100% |
Michigan History Center | 0 | 10 | 100% |
Michigan State Police | 0 | 14 | 100% |
Michigan State University | 0 | 488 | 100% |
Michigan Technological University | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Montclair Art Museum | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Museum of Ojibwa Culture and Marquette Mission Park - City of St. Ignace | 0 | 8 | 100% |
New York University, College of Dentistry | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Oshkosh Public Museum | 0 | 3 | 100% |
Port Huron Museum | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Princeton University | 0 | 12 | 100% |
Putnam Museum | 0 | 2 | 100% |
Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology, Phillips Academy | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Sloan Museum | 0 | 9 | 100% |
St Joseph County Sheriff's Department | 0 | 1 | 100% |
The Region of Three Oaks Museum | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Toledo Zoological Society | 0 | 8 | 100% |
U.S. Department of Agriculture | 0 | 1 | 100% |
U.S. Department of the Interior | 0 | 13 | 100% |
University of Nebraska State Museum | 0 | 2 | 100% |
University of Notre Dame, Department of Anthropology | 0 | 2 | 100% |
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology | 0 | 9 | 100% |
Western Michigan University, Department of Anthropology | 0 | 79 | 100% |
Wisconsin Historical Society | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Institutions made Native American remains taken from Michigan available for return to 57 tribes.
Tribe | Remains Made Available for Return to Tribe |
---|---|
Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan | 2,022 |
Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Michigan | 1,840 |
Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Michigan | 1,828 |
Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Michigan | 1,821 |
Bay Mills Indian Community, Michigan | 1,820 |
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Michigan | 1,815 |
Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Michigan | 1,749 |
Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Michigan | 1,727 |
Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan | 1,454 |
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Michigan and Indiana | 1,426 |
Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, Michigan (formerly the Huron Potawatomi, Inc.) | 1,256 |
Hannahville Indian Community, Michigan | 1,216 |
Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin | 1,190 |
Chippewa Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy's Reservation, Montana | 1,181 |
Mille Lacs Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota | 1,150 |
Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin | 1,149 |
Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians of the Bad River Reservation, Wisconsin | 1,147 |
Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of the Lac du Flambeau Reservation of Wisconsin | 1,147 |
Leech Lake Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota | 1,147 |
White Earth Band of Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota | 1,147 |
Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Minnesota | 1,139 |
Fond du Lac Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota | 1,133 |
Grand Portage Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota | 1,133 |
St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin | 1,133 |
Bois Forte Band (Nett Lake) of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota | 1,131 |
Sokaogon Chippewa Community, Wisconsin | 1,131 |
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota | 1,131 |
Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma | 1,013 |
Wyandotte Nation | 971 |
Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation | 889 |
Forest County Potawatomi Community, Wisconsin | 877 |
Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Oklahoma | 847 |
Quechan Tribe of the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation, California and Arizona | 600 |
Sac and Fox Nation, Oklahoma | 599 |
Miami Tribe of Oklahoma | 511 |
Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska | 488 |
Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa | 488 |
Kickapoo Tribe of Indians of the Kickapoo Reservation in Kansas | 422 |
Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma | 422 |
Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas | 421 |
Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma | 360 |
Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma | 319 |
Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma | 318 |
Shawnee Tribe | 318 |
Delaware Nation, Oklahoma | 310 |
Delaware Tribe of Indians | 309 |
Tonawanda Band of Seneca | 308 |
Seneca Nation of Indians | 304 |
Seneca-Cayuga Nation | 304 |
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota | 288 |
Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana | 265 |
Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin | 135 |
Grand River Band of Ottawa Indians | 103 |
Stockbridge Munsee Community, Wisconsin | 48 |
Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin | 2 |
Oneida Nation of Wisconsin | 1 |
Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska | 1 |
Institutions reported Native American remains taken from 69 counties in Michigan.
County | Remains Taken From County Not Made Available for Return | Remains Made Available for Return | % of Remains Made Available for Return |
---|---|---|---|
Macomb County | 240 | 21 | 8% |
Saginaw County | 174 | 268 | 61% |
Wayne County | 67 | 157 | 70% |
Menominee County | 45 | 42 | 48% |
St. Clair County | 21 | 26 | 55% |
Montmorency County | 20 | 3 | 13% |
Oceana County | 18 | 53 | 75% |
Midland County | 17 | 4 | 19% |
Monroe County | 17 | 103 | 86% |
Oakland County | 11 | 86 | 89% |
Presque Isle County | 7 | 0 | 0% |
Tuscola County | 7 | 27 | 79% |
Delta County | 6 | 9 | 60% |
Ionia County | 4 | 13 | 76% |
Alcona County | 2 | 1 | 33% |
Benzie County | 2 | 0 | 0% |
Arenac County | 1 | 4 | 80% |
Chippewa County | 1 | 2 | 67% |
Hillsdale County | 1 | 1 | 50% |
Huron County | 1 | 10 | 91% |
Keweenaw County | 1 | 17 | 94% |
Lenawee County | 1 | 25 | 96% |
Mackinac County | 1 | 261 | 100% |
Sanilac County | 1 | 12 | 92% |
Shiawassee County | 1 | 42 | 98% |
Washtenaw County | 1 | 70 | 99% |
Allegan County | 0 | 72 | 100% |
Alpena County | 0 | 34 | 100% |
Antrim County | 0 | 5 | 100% |
Baraga County | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Barry County | 0 | 5 | 100% |
Bay County | 0 | 160 | 100% |
Berrien County | 0 | 35 | 100% |
Branch County | 0 | 3 | 100% |
Calhoun County | 0 | 2 | 100% |
Cass County | 0 | 8 | 100% |
Charlevoix County | 0 | 3 | 100% |
Cheboygan County | 0 | 6 | 100% |
Clinton County | 0 | 38 | 100% |
Eaton County | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Emmet County | 0 | 16 | 100% |
Genesee County | 0 | 30 | 100% |
Gladwin County | 0 | 2 | 100% |
Gogebic County | 0 | 3 | 100% |
Grand Traverse County | 0 | 6 | 100% |
Gratiot County | 0 | 5 | 100% |
Ingham County | 0 | 2 | 100% |
Iosco County | 0 | 21 | 100% |
Isabella County | 0 | 19 | 100% |
Jackson County | 0 | 25 | 100% |
Kalamazoo County | 0 | 4 | 100% |
Kent County | 0 | 130 | 100% |
Lake County | 0 | 3 | 100% |
Lapeer County | 0 | 250 | 100% |
Leelanau County | 0 | 9 | 100% |
Livingston County | 0 | 3 | 100% |
Marquette County | 0 | 2 | 100% |
Mecosta County | 0 | 8 | 100% |
Missaukee County | 0 | 3 | 100% |
Montcalm County | 0 | 11 | 100% |
Muskegon County | 0 | 10 | 100% |
Newaygo County | 0 | 117 | 100% |
Ogemaw County | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Otsego County | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Ottawa County | 0 | 90 | 100% |
Roscommon County | 0 | 3 | 100% |
St. Joseph County | 0 | 11 | 100% |
Van Buren County | 0 | 1 | 100% |
Wexford County | 0 | 4 | 100% |
Know how an institution is handling repatriation? Have a personal story to share? We'd like to hear from you.
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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