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The Repatriation Database Data from Nov. 29, 2023

Missouri

Institutions reported making 15% of the more than 3,800 Native American remains taken from Missouri available for return to tribes under NAGPRA.

remains of 592 Native Americans made available for return to tribes
remains of at least 3,307 Native Americans not made available for return

There are 20 institutions located in Missouri 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 Missouri, Columbia, Museum of Anthropology2,4511506%
U.S. Department of Defense48537043%
Missouri Department of Natural Resources3013510%
Missouri Department of Transportation19600%
Southeast Missouri State University, Crisp Museum5900%
St. Joseph Museums, Inc.401730%
Museum of Osteopathic Medicine3900%
University of Missouri, St. Louis2100%
Missouri State University2000%
U.S. Department of the Interior2000%
Kansas City Museum18210%
University of Central Missouri1600%
Missouri Historical Society15212%
U.S. Department of Agriculture1400%
Washington University900%
St. Louis Science Center5117%
College of the Ozarks, Ralph Foster Museum300%
Central Methodist University01100%
Culver-Stockton College010100%
History Museum on the Square01100%

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

InstitutionRemains Not Made Available for ReturnRemains Made Available for Return% of Remains Made Available for Return
University of Missouri, Columbia, Museum of Anthropology2,2741496%
Missouri Department of Natural Resources2883511%
Missouri Department of Transportation19600%
U.S. Department of Defense8433080%
Harvard University8300%
University of Tennessee, Knoxville7123%
Southeast Missouri State University, Crisp Museum5900%
Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology, Phillips Academy2800%
American Museum of Natural History2100%
University of Missouri, St. Louis2100%
Missouri State University2000%
U.S. Department of the Interior20313%
University of Kansas1700%
University of Central Missouri1600%
U.S. Department of Agriculture1400%
Field Museum1100%
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency900%
Brigham Young University, Museum of Peoples and Cultures800%
Mutter Museum, College of Physicians of Philadelphia800%
Washington University800%
Wichita State University, Department of Anthropology700%
Missouri Historical Society6114%
University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology600%
Tioga Point Museum500%
University of Nebraska State Museum500%
University of Wisconsin, Madison, Department of Anthropology400%
St. Joseph Museums, Inc.31583%
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology300%
Indiana University200%
Kansas City Museum2133%
Kansas State University21286%
Nassau County Department of Parks and Recreation200%
Hastings Museum100%
Wayne State University100%
Wisconsin Historical Society100%
Yale University, Peabody Museum of Natural History100%
Autry Museum of the American West01100%
Central Methodist University01100%
Culver-Stockton College010100%
Denver Museum of Nature and Science02100%
Grand Rapids Public Museum02100%
History Museum on the Square01100%
Illinois State Museum019100%
Museum of Natural History and Planetarium01100%
St. Louis Science Center01100%
University of Arkansas02100%
University of Iowa, Office of the State Archaeologist04100%
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 Missouri available for return to 16 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
Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska340
Sac and Fox Nation, Oklahoma340
Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa340
Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, Oklahoma172
Osage Nation128
Omaha Tribe of Nebraska49
Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma34
Ponca Tribe of Nebraska34
Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska28
Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma27
Quapaw Nation24
Kaw Nation, Oklahoma23
Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma4
Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma2
Caddo Nation of Oklahoma1
Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota1

Institutions reported Native American remains taken from 85 counties in Missouri.

CountyRemains Taken From County Not Made Available for ReturnRemains Made Available for Return% of Remains Made Available for Return
Pemiscot County46451%
New Madrid County38500%
Mississippi County32741%
Boone County28800%
Butler County20300%
Platte County162137%
Stoddard County13100%
Jefferson County10300%
St. Louis County10044%
Lincoln County8600%
Barry County6500%
Dunklin County5900%
McDonald County5812%
Ste. Genevieve County5700%
Pulaski County503038%
Callaway County4500%
Howard County3613%
Cedar County3400%
Phelps County3139%
Atchison County2926%
Cape Girardeau County2900%
Ripley County2700%
St. Charles County2700%
Stone County2300%
Cooper County2200%
Knox County2100%
St. Clair County2000%
Clay County1900%
Polk County1500%
Benton County1400%
Pettis County14213%
Christian County1200%
Wayne County1200%
Buchanan County111150%
Miller County1100%
Saline County1114493%
Scott County1000%
Ozark County900%
Pike County93981%
Randolph County900%
Daviess County800%
Hickory County800%
Osage County800%
Greene County700%
Johnson County700%
Montgomery County700%
Ray County700%
Jackson County6114%
Shannon County600%
Cole County500%
Henry County500%
Dade County400%
Dent County400%
Franklin County400%
Adair County3457%
Camden County3125%
Laclede County300%
Lewis County300%
Monroe County327199%
Oregon County3457%
Perry County300%
Webster County300%
Carroll County200%
Douglas County200%
Lafayette County200%
Macon County200%
Moniteau County200%
Nodaway County200%
Scotland County200%
Washington County200%
Carter County100%
Clark County1150%
Crawford County100%
Harrison County100%
Linn County100%
Livingston County100%
Maries County100%
Marion County100%
Newton County100%
Ralls County13897%
Taney County100%
Vernon County1480%
Andrew County02100%
Dallas County01100%
Madison County04100%
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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