Cherokee Nation Repatriation Records — NAGPRA Database

The Repatriation Database Data from Nov. 29, 2023

Where Native American remains made available for return to the Cherokee Nation were taken from

Each county is a peak

Height is amount of remains taken from county and made available by institutions for return to tribe

No remains taken from these counties made available for return to tribe

Institution that made remains available for return

Note: Remains of six Native Americans with no location information were made available for return to the Cherokee Nation.

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.

These 60 institutions made Native American remains available for return to the Cherokee Nation.

Institution	Remains Made Available for Return To Tribe
Tennessee Valley Authority	5,894
West Virginia Division of Culture and History	1,031
Harvard University	662
University of Alabama Museums	406
U.S. Department of the Interior	352
American Museum of Natural History	268
U.S. Department of Defense	249
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	235
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Division of Archaeology	188
University of Tennessee, Knoxville	170
National Guard Bureau, Air National Guard	96
State Museum of Pennsylvania	58
U.S. Department of Agriculture	58
Gilcrease Museum	38
Marshall University	38
Murray State University, Archaeology Laboratory	37
Columbus State University	28
Pennsylvania State University, Matson Museum of Anthropology	25
Georgia State University	23
North Carolina Office of State Archaeology	20
Pittsburg State University	19
New York University, College of Dentistry	18
University of Georgia, Department of Anthropology	17
University of Louisville	16
Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department	14
Oregon State University	10
Wesleyan University, Archaeology Laboratory	10
Beloit College, Logan Museum of Anthropology	7
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology	7
University of Washington	7
Appalachian State University, Department of Anthropology	6
University of Iowa, Office of the State Archaeologist	5
University of Oklahoma	5
University of South Carolina, South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology	5
Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of State Parks	4
Ball State University, Applied Anthropology Laboratories	3
Filson Historical Society	3
Pioneer Museum, Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park	3
University of Colorado Museum	3
Valentine Museum	3
Alabama Department of Transportation	2
Children's Museum of Oak Ridge	2
College of William and Mary, Department of Anthropology	2
Denver Museum of Nature and Science	2
Illinois State Museum	2
Kentucky Historical Society	2
University of Denver, Museum of Anthropology	2
Western Kentucky University	2
Amherst College, Beneski Museum of Natural History	1
Auburn University	1
Augusta State University	1
Cincinnati Museum Center, Museum of Natural History and Science	1
Dartmouth College, Hood Museum of Art	1
Florence Indian Mound Museum	1
Georgia Department of Natural Resources	1
Indiana University	1
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History	1
U.S. Department of Energy	1
University of Arizona, Arizona State Museum	1
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign	1

Timeline of Native American remains made available for return to the Cherokee Nation

Tribal and institutional capacity, funding, staffing, regulatory changes, audits, Review Committee decisions and litigation may influence timelines. Under NAGPRA, institutions determine whether Native American remains may be returned through cultural affiliation using evidence such as tribal traditional knowledge and biological and archaeological links, or through disposition based on geographic affiliation.

These institutions have not made available for return the remains of at least 17,500 Native Americans that were taken from counties known to be of interest to the Cherokee Nation.

These are estimates calculated using remains not made available for return from counties that the tribe has previously been eligible to claim remains from, as well as counties that the tribe has indicated interest in to the federal government. They are not comprehensive figures. The tribe may not wish to claim the remains, and other tribes may also seek to claim them.

Institution	Remains Not Made Available for Return That Were Taken From Counties of Interest to the Tribe
Univ. of Kentucky	3,700
Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville	3,610 Frank H. McClung Museum (2,683) Dept. of Anthropology (927)
Univ. of Alabama	2,243
Univ. of Oklahoma	2,079 Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History (2,073) Oklahoma Archeological Survey (6)
Univ. of Missouri, Columbia	1,381
Harvard Univ.	600
Dept. of Defense	534 Mobile District (195) Nashville District (150) Tulsa District (78) Little Rock District (65) National Museum of Health and Medicine (36) Fort Leonard Wood (6) Fort Worth District (3) St. Louis District (1)
Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site	383
Tennessee Dept. of Environment and Conservation	326
Dept. of the Interior	312 Mammoth Cave NP (122) Buffalo National River (82) Ocmulgee Mounds NHP (55) Big South Fork NRRA (24) Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge (13) Southeast Archeological Center (11) Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge (3) White River National Wildlife Refuge (2)
Western Kentucky Univ.	296 Dept. of Folk Studies and Anthropology (286) Kentucky Museum (10)
Univ. of Louisville	245
Virginia Dept. of Historic Resources	225
Mississippi Dept. of Archives and History	167
West Virginia Division of Culture and History	165
Missouri Dept. of Transportation	103
Univ. of South Carolina, SCIAA	93
Vanderbilt Univ.	86
Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources	84
American Museum of Natural History	67
Indiana Univ.	55 Glenn A. Black Lab. of Archeology (30) Dept. of Anthropology (25)
Illinois State Museum	54
Southern Illinois Univ., Carbondale	49
Northern Kentucky Univ.	47
Field Museum	43
Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources	41
Univ. of Pennsylvania	38
Anniston Museum of Natural History	37
Dept. of Agriculture	35 Daniel Boone NF (12) Shawnee NF (11) Mark Twain NF (8) Francis Marion and Sumter NF (4)
State Museum of Pennsylvania	32
Ohio History Connection	29
Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology	28
Univ. of Florida	25
Augusta Museum of History	20
Missouri State Univ.	20
Univ. of Georgia	18
Gilcrease Museum	16
Univ. of Arkansas	16
Jacksonville State Univ.	15
Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	15
Univ. of Kansas	12
Univ. of Memphis	11
Univ. of Central Missouri	10
Univ. of Tennessee at Chattanooga	10
Carnegie Museum of Natural History	9
Wake Forest Univ., Archeology Labs	9
Yale Univ.	9
Univ. of Michigan	8
Charleston Museum	7
Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites Corporation	7
Kansas State Historical Society	7
Alabama Dept. of Archives & History	6
Dept. of Energy	6
Houston Museum of Natural Science	5
Nassau County Dept. of Parks and Recreation	5
Rochester Museum and Science Center	5
Wichita State Univ.	5
Bridgewater College	4
Columbus Museum	4
Mississippi State Univ.	4
New York Univ.	4
San Bernardino County Museum	4
Beloit College	3
Dayton Museum of Natural History	3
Indiana State Univ.	3
North Carolina Office of State Archaeology	3
West Texas A and M Univ.	3
Cranbrook Institute of Science	2
Seton Hall Univ.	2
Temple Univ.	2
Tioga Point Museum	2
Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign	2
City of Fort Smith	1
Cleveland Museum of Natural History	1
Kansas City Museum	1
Louisiana State Exhibit Museum	1
Missouri Historical Society	1
Murray State Univ.	1
Mutter Museum, College of Physicians of Philadelphia	1
Southeast Missouri State Univ.	1
St. Joseph Museums, Inc.	1
St. Louis Science Center	1
Univ. of Akron	1
Univ. of California, Berkeley	1
Univ. of California, Riverside	1
Univ. of Louisiana at Monroe	1
Univ. of North Carolina, Charlotte	1
Univ. of Texas at Austin	1
Univ. of Tulsa	1
Washington Univ.	1
Western Reserve Historical Society	1
Wisconsin Historical Society	1

Counties of interest used in estimate include: Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Cleburne, Colbert, Cullman, Dekalb, Etowah, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, Morgan, Russell, St. Clair, Tallapoosa, Walker and Winston in Alabama. Arkansas, Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Clay, Cleburne, Conway, Craighead, Crawford, Crittenden, Cross, Desha, Faulkner, Franklin, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Lawrence, Lee, Lincoln, Logan, Lonoke, Madison, Marion, Mississippi, Monroe, Newton, Perry, Phillips, Pope, Prairie, Pulaski, Randolph, Searcy, Sebastian, Sharp, St. Francis, Stone, Van Buren, Washington, Woodruff and Yell in Arkansas. Kings in California. Barrow, Bartow, Bibb, Catoosa, Chattooga, Cherokee, Clarke, Cobb, Columbia, Dade, Dawson, Dekalb, Elbert, Fannin, Floyd, Forsyth, Franklin, Fulton, Gilmer, Gordon, Gwinnett, Habersham, Hall, Haralson, Hart, Jackson, Laurens, Lincoln, Lumpkin, Madison, Mcintosh, Murray, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Paulding, Pickens, Polk, Rabun, Stephens, Taliaferro, Towns, Union, Walker, Walton, Wheeler, White, Whitfield and Wilkes in Georgia. Alexander, Johnson, Massac, Pope, Pulaski and Union in Illinois. Harrison in Indiana. Barber, Bourbon, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Clark, Comanche, Cowley, Crawford, Harper, Labette, Montgomery and Sumner in Kansas. Adair, Allen, Anderson, Ballard, Barren, Bath, Bell, Boone, Bourbon, Boyd, Boyle, Bracken, Breathitt, Breckinridge, Bullitt, Butler, Caldwell, Calloway, Campbell, Carlisle, Carroll, Carter, Casey, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Crittenden, Cumberland, Daviess, Edmonson, Elliott, Estill, Fayette, Fleming, Floyd, Franklin, Fulton, Gallatin, Garrard, Grant, Graves, Grayson, Green, Greenup, Hancock, Hardin, Harlan, Harrison, Hart, Henderson, Henry, Hickman, Hopkins, Jackson, Jefferson, Jessamine, Johnson, Kenton, Knott, Knox, Larue, Laurel, Lawrence, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Lewis, Lincoln, Livingston, Logan, Lyon, Madison, Magoffin, Marion, Marshall, Martin, Mason, Mccracken, Mccreary, Mclean, Meade, Menifee, Mercer, Metcalfe, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Muhlenberg, Nelson, Nicholas, Ohio, Oldham, Owen, Owsley, Pendleton, Perry, Pike, Powell, Pulaski, Robertson, Rockcastle, Rowan, Russell, Scott, Shelby, Simpson, Spencer, Taylor, Todd, Trigg, Trimble, Union, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Whitley, Wolfe and Woodford in Kentucky. Barry, Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Christian, Crawford, Dent, Greene, Iron, Laclede, Lawrence, Madison, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Perry, Phelps, Pulaski, Reynolds, Ripley, Scott, St. Francois, Stone, Texas, Washington, Wayne, Webster and Wright in Missouri. Adams, Bolivar, Coahoma, Desoto, Jefferson, Madison, Tishomingo and Tunica in Mississippi. Jefferson in Ohio. Adair, Alfalfa, Atoka, Cherokee, Choctaw, Craig, Delaware, Ellis, Garfield, Grant, Harper, Haskell, Kay, Le Flore, Major, Mayes, Mcintosh, Muskogee, Noble, Nowata, Oklahoma, Osage, Ottawa, Pawnee, Payne, Pittsburg, Rogers, Sequoyah, Stephens, Tulsa, Wagoner, Washington, Woods and Woodward in Oklahoma. Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lawrence, Luzerne, Monroe and Pike in Pennsylvania. Anderson, Bedford, Benton, Bledsoe, Blount, Bradley, Campbell, Cannon, Carter, Cheatham, Claiborne, Clay, Cocke, Coffee, Cumberland, Davidson, Decatur, Dekalb, Dickson, Dyer, Fayette, Fentress, Franklin, Giles, Grainger, Greene, Grundy, Hamblen, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardeman, Hardin, Hawkins, Henry, Hickman, Houston, Humphreys, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Knox, Lake, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Lewis, Lincoln, Loudon, Macon, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Maury, Mcminn, Mcnairy, Meigs, Monroe, Montgomery, Moore, Morgan, Obion, Overton, Perry, Pickett, Polk, Putnam, Rhea, Roane, Robertson, Rutherford, Scott, Sequatchie, Sevier, Shelby, Smith, Stewart, Sullivan, Sumner, Tipton, Trousdale, Unicoi, Union, Van Buren, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Weakley, White, Williamson and Wilson in Tennessee. Dallas, Nacogdoches, Red River, Smith and Van Zandt in Texas. Bland, Bristol, Buchanan, Carroll, Dickenson, Floyd, Galax, Giles, Grayson, Lee, Montgomery, Norton, Pulaski, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise and Wythe in Virginia.

Search for institutions holding Native American remains and tribes seeking to reclaim them

Try the University of California, Berkeley, the Chickasaw Nation or Arizona.

Institutions that have not submitted information to the federal government are not listed.

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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

by Ash Ngu and Andrea Suozzo Jan. 11, 2023 Data from Nov. 29, 2023 Additional reporting by Asia Fields, Mary Hudetz and Logan Jaffe for ProPublica and Graham Brewer for NBC News. Additional development by Alec Glassford.