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The Repatriation Database Data from Nov. 29, 2023

West Virginia

Institutions reported making 66% of the more than 1,600 Native American remains taken from West Virginia available for return to tribes under NAGPRA.

remains of 1,079 Native Americans made available for return to tribes
remains of at least 562 Native Americans not made available for return

There are four institutions located in West Virginia 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
West Virginia Division of Culture and History3651,03174%
Davis and Elkins College100%
Marshall University038100%
U.S. Department of Defense090100%

There are 16 institutions that reported Native American remains taken from West Virginia.

InstitutionRemains Not Made Available for ReturnRemains Made Available for Return% of Remains Made Available for Return
West Virginia Division of Culture and History3401,03175%
Carnegie Museum of Natural History10600%
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology4700%
Yale University, Peabody Museum of Natural History4200%
U.S. Department of Defense81056%
University of Kentucky, William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology600%
Ohio History Connection (formerly the Ohio Historical Society)400%
State Museum of Pennsylvania300%
American Museum of Natural History100%
Dayton Museum of Natural History100%
Indiana University100%
Louisiana State Exhibit Museum100%
Texas State University100%
University of Akron100%
Marshall University037100%
University of Colorado Museum01100%
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 West Virginia available for return to 57 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 Oklahoma1,078
Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma1,078
Shawnee Tribe1,078
Cherokee Nation1,069
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians1,069
United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma1,069
Cayuga Nation1,068
Delaware Nation, Oklahoma1,068
Delaware Tribe of Indians1,068
Oneida Indian Nation in New York1,068
Oneida Nation of Wisconsin1,068
Onondaga Nation1,068
Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe1,068
Seneca Nation of Indians1,068
Seneca-Cayuga Nation1,068
Stockbridge Munsee Community, Wisconsin1,068
Tonawanda Band of Seneca1,068
Tuscarora Nation1,068
Wyandotte Nation1,068
Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians of the Bad River Reservation, Wisconsin37
Bay Mills Indian Community, Michigan37
Bois Forte Band (Nett Lake) of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota37
Catawba Indian Nation37
Chickahominy Indian Tribe37
Chickahominy Indian Tribe - Eastern Division37
Chippewa Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy's Reservation, Montana37
Fond du Lac Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota37
Grand Portage Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota37
Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Michigan37
Kaw Nation, Oklahoma37
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Michigan37
Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin37
Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Michigan37
Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of the Lac du Flambeau Reservation of Wisconsin37
Leech Lake Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota37
Mille Lacs Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota37
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota37
Monacan Indian Tribe37
Nansemond Indian Nation37
Omaha Tribe of Nebraska37
Osage Nation37
Pamunkey Indian Tribe37
Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma37
Ponca Tribe of Nebraska37
Quapaw Nation37
Rappahannock Tribe, Inc.37
Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin37
Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Minnesota37
Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan37
Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Michigan37
Sokaogon Chippewa Community, Wisconsin37
St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin37
Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe37
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota37
Upper Mattaponi Tribe37
White Earth Band of Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota37
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of the Cheyenne River Reservation, South Dakota33

Institutions reported Native American remains taken from 29 counties in West Virginia.

CountyRemains Taken From County Not Made Available for ReturnRemains Made Available for Return% of Remains Made Available for Return
Marshall County19200%
Mason County6123%
Ohio County5400%
Wood County4112%
Logan County3300%
Monongalia County3200%
Morgan County3100%
Berkeley County2000%
Hancock County1600%
Kanawha County1500%
Taylor County700%
Fayette County600%
Jefferson County600%
Nicholas County600%
Boone County500%
Pleasants County500%
Cabell County4660%
Jackson County400%
Brooke County300%
Hampshire County200%
Preston County200%
Putnam County21,031100%
Raleigh County200%
Wyoming County200%
Hardy County100%
Pocahontas County100%
Summers County11192%
Tucker County100%
Mercer County026100%
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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