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The Repatriation Database Data from Nov. 29, 2023

Ohio

Institutions reported making 0.4% of the more than 10,900 Native American remains taken from Ohio available for return to tribes under NAGPRA.

remains of 40 Native Americans made available for return to tribes
remains of at least 10,904 Native Americans not made available for return

There are 26 institutions located in Ohio 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
Ohio History Connection (formerly the Ohio Historical Society)7,167170%
Cincinnati Museum Center, Museum of Natural History and Science52010%
Cleveland Museum of Natural History47700%
Dayton Museum of Natural History43810%
University of Toledo2104618%
University of Cincinnati, Department of Anthropology14000%
U.S. Department of the Interior13600%
Western Reserve Historical Society9900%
Allen County Museum and Historical Society7300%
Cleveland State University, Department of Anthropology3500%
Heidelberg University2700%
U.S. Department of Energy1300%
Ohio University, Department of Sociology and Anthropology900%
Clark County Historical Museum700%
University of Akron700%
Hardin County Historical Museums500%
U.S. Department of Agriculture500%
Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum2250%
City of Marietta100%
Athens County Historical Society and Museum01100%
Case Western Reserve University05100%
MetroParks of the Toledo Area06100%
Moravian Historical Society02100%
Oberlin College04100%
Sandusky Library, Follett House Museum01100%
Toledo Zoological Society08100%

There are 53 institutions that reported Native American remains taken from Ohio.

InstitutionRemains Not Made Available for ReturnRemains Made Available for Return% of Remains Made Available for Return
Ohio History Connection (formerly the Ohio Historical Society)6,585160%
Harvard University1,68700%
Cincinnati Museum Center, Museum of Natural History and Science49200%
Cleveland Museum of Natural History41400%
Dayton Museum of Natural History39000%
Field Museum37000%
University of Toledo19600%
American Museum of Natural History14500%
University of Cincinnati, Department of Anthropology13800%
U.S. Department of the Interior13400%
Allen County Museum and Historical Society7300%
Indiana University4300%
Cleveland State University, Department of Anthropology3500%
Gilcrease Museum2900%
Heidelberg University2600%
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology2414%
State Museum of Pennsylvania1500%
U.S. Department of Energy1300%
University of Kentucky, William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology1300%
Charleston Museum900%
Ohio University, Department of Sociology and Anthropology900%
Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology, Phillips Academy900%
Carnegie Museum of Natural History700%
Clark County Historical Museum700%
Hardin County Historical Museums500%
U.S. Department of Agriculture500%
U.S. Department of Defense5655%
Western Reserve Historical Society500%
Earlham College400%
Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum2250%
Brigham Young University, Museum of Peoples and Cultures100%
Buffalo Museum of Science100%
City of Marietta100%
Hastings Museum100%
Henry County Historical Society100%
Illinois State Museum100%
Kansas State Historical Society100%
Los Angeles County Natural History Museum100%
Milwaukee Public Museum100%
Museum of Osteopathic Medicine100%
Northern Kentucky University100%
Oakland Museum of California100%
University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology100%
University of New Mexico, Maxwell Museum of Anthropology100%
West Virginia Division of Culture and History100%
Athens County Historical Society and Museum01100%
Beloit College, Logan Museum of Anthropology01100%
Colgate University, Longyear Museum of Anthropology02100%
Kentucky Historical Society01100%
MetroParks of the Toledo Area06100%
Moravian Historical Society02100%
Sandusky Library, Follett House Museum01100%
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Department of Anthropology01100%
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 Ohio available for return to 67 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
Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma15
Delaware Tribe of Indians15
Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma15
Shawnee Tribe15
Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma11
Delaware Nation, Oklahoma9
Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Michigan5
Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Michigan5
Wyandotte Nation5
Forest County Potawatomi Community, Wisconsin4
Hannahville Indian Community, Michigan4
Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Michigan4
Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan4
Stockbridge Munsee Community, Wisconsin4
Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians of the Bad River Reservation, Wisconsin3
Bay Mills Indian Community, Michigan3
Bois Forte Band (Nett Lake) of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota3
Chippewa Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy's Reservation, Montana3
Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Oklahoma3
Fond du Lac Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota3
Grand Portage Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota3
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Michigan3
Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas3
Kickapoo Tribe of Indians of the Kickapoo Reservation in Kansas3
Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma3
Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin3
Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Michigan3
Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of the Lac du Flambeau Reservation of Wisconsin3
Leech Lake Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota3
Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan3
Miami Tribe of Oklahoma3
Mille Lacs Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota3
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota3
Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, Michigan (formerly the Huron Potawatomi, Inc.)3
Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma3
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Michigan and Indiana3
Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation3
Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin3
Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Minnesota3
Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Michigan3
Sokaogon Chippewa Community, Wisconsin3
St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin3
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota3
White Earth Band of Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota3
Seneca Nation of Indians2
Seneca-Cayuga Nation2
Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana1
Cayuga Nation1
Cherokee Nation1
Chickasaw Nation1
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians1
Kaw Nation, Oklahoma1
Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana1
Omaha Tribe of Nebraska1
Oneida Indian Nation in New York1
Oneida Nation of Wisconsin1
Onondaga Nation1
Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma1
Ponca Tribe of Nebraska1
Quapaw Nation1
Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska1
Sac and Fox Nation, Oklahoma1
Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa1
Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe1
Tonawanda Band of Seneca1
Tuscarora Nation1
United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma1

Institutions reported Native American remains taken from 64 counties in Ohio.

CountyRemains Taken From County Not Made Available for ReturnRemains Made Available for Return% of Remains Made Available for Return
Hamilton County2,36500%
Franklin County1,51700%
Ross County1,09710%
Delaware County84000%
Wood County65800%
Sandusky County63800%
Ottawa County49000%
Warren County42400%
Champaign County32800%
Lake County22100%
Erie County21610%
Montgomery County19500%
Pickaway County19153%
Logan County16500%
Marion County16321%
Miami County8700%
Adams County8311%
Greene County7800%
Clark County7200%
Cuyahoga County6811%
Allen County6600%
Madison County6412%
Licking County6000%
Preble County5900%
Tuscarawas County541218%
Scioto County5000%
Fairfield County4800%
Athens County3913%
Clinton County3700%
Muskingum County3713%
Highland County3638%
Butler County3300%
Jackson County2900%
Hancock County2300%
Lorain County1800%
Mahoning County1500%
Ashtabula County1400%
Fulton County1300%
Hocking County1300%
Wyandot County1300%
Gallia County1200%
Hardin County1200%
Clermont County1000%
Lawrence County800%
Darke County700%
Huron County700%
Knox County700%
Pike County700%
Lucas County5964%
Belmont County400%
Richland County400%
Washington County400%
Williams County400%
Coshocton County3125%
Henry County300%
Jefferson County3125%
Meigs County300%
Putnam County300%
Perry County200%
Crawford County100%
Harrison County100%
Mercer County100%
Noble County100%
Summit County100%
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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