Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana Repatriation Records — NAGPRA Database

The Repatriation Database Data from Nov. 29, 2023

Where Native American remains made available for return to the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana 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 two Native Americans with no location information were made available for return to the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana.

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 22 institutions made Native American remains available for return to the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana.

Institution	Remains Made Available for Return To Tribe
University of Alabama Museums	10,245
Tennessee Valley Authority	6,334
Mississippi Dept. of Archives and History	495
University of California, San Diego	478
U.S. Department of the Interior	84
U.S. Department of Defense	74
Alabama Department of Archives & History	37
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology	22
Southern Methodist University	8
University of South Alabama, Center for Archaeological Studies	7
Florida Department of State	3
Anniston Museum of Natural History	2
Indiana University	2
U.S. Department of Agriculture	2
Yale University, Peabody Museum of Natural History	2
American Museum of Natural History	1
Appalachian State University, Department of Anthropology	1
Auburn University	1
Florence Indian Mound Museum	1
Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology, Phillips Academy	1
University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology	1
Wistar Institute	1

Timeline of Native American remains made available for return to the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana

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 15,400 Native Americans that were taken from counties known to be of interest to the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana.

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 Tennessee, Knoxville	3,609 Frank H. McClung Museum (2,686) Dept. of Anthropology (923)
Univ. of Alabama	2,517
Univ. of Florida	1,083
Harvard Univ.	953
Univ. of Texas at Austin	944
Florida Dept. of State	921
Dept. of the Interior	794 Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge (178) Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (138) St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge (114) Natchitoches National Fish Hatchery (100) Southeast Archeological Center (80) Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge (66) Ocmulgee Mounds NHP (55) Big South Fork NRRA (22) Jean Lafitte NHP and PRES (16) Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge (13) Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge (3) White River National Wildlife Refuge (2) Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge (1) Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge (1) D'Arbonne National Wildlife Refuge (1) Fort Frederica NM (1) Fort Matanzas NM (1) Savannah National Wildlife Refuge (1) St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge (1)
Auburn Univ.	767
Dept. of Defense	552 Mobile District (224) Nashville District (110) Fort Worth District (105) Vicksburg District (51) National Museum of Health and Medicine (44) Galveston District (13) Hurlburt Air Field (2) Tulsa District (2) Fort Benning (1)
Mississippi Dept. of Archives and History	549
Tennessee Dept. of Environment and Conservation	326
Florida State Univ.	309
Mississippi State Univ.	193
Fernbank Museum of Natural History	141
Univ. of Pennsylvania	132
Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources	130
Univ. of Georgia	127
Yale Univ.	110
Univ. of Louisiana at Monroe	106
American Museum of Natural History	93
Vanderbilt Univ.	86
Univ. of Texas at San Antonio	78
Louisiana State Univ.	58 Museum of Natural Science (53) Dept. of Anthropology (5)
Univ. of South Alabama	58
Field Museum	53
Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History	39
Anniston Museum of Natural History	38
Alabama Dept. of Archives & History	36
Univ. of Southern Mississippi	35
Georgia Power	33
Univ. of the Incarnate Word	32
Univ. of Missouri, Columbia	30
Milwaukee Public Museum	25
Univ. of Florida, Florida Museum of Natural History + Florida Dept. of State	25
New York State Museum	22
Wagner Free Institute of Science	22
Augusta Museum of History	21
Louisiana Dept. of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism	21
Houston Museum of Natural Science	18
Nassau County Dept. of Parks and Recreation	18
Poverty Point World Heritage Site	17
Univ. of Arkansas	17
Jacksonville State Univ.	16
Dept. of Agriculture	16 Ocala NF (15) Chattahoochee-Oconee NF (1)
Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	14
Univ. of West Florida	14
Texas A and M Univ.	13 Dept. of Anthropology (8) Commerce (5)
Univ. of Kentucky	12
Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology	11
Wisconsin Historical Society	11
Witte Museum	11
Univ. of Michigan	10
Univ. of Tennessee at Chattanooga	10
Univ. of Memphis	9
Coryell County Sheriff's Dept.	8
HistoryMiami Museum	8
Georgia Southern Univ.	7
Museum of Texas Tech Univ.	7
Texas State Univ.	7
West Texas A and M Univ.	7
Spratt-Mead Museum	6
Texas Historical Commission	6
Columbus Museum	5
Texas Dept. of Transportation	5
Bridgewater College	4
Brown Univ.	4
Grand Rapids Public Museum	4
Indiana Univ.	4
State Museum of Pennsylvania	4
Beloit College	3
Dayton Museum of Natural History	3
Gilcrease Museum	3
South Georgia State College	3
Texas Parks and Wildlife	3
Carnegie Museum of Natural History	2
Louisiana Cultural Heritage Museum	2
Rochester Museum and Science Center	2
The Heritage Museum of the Texas Hill Country	2
West Virginia Division of Culture and History	2
Charleston Museum	1
Cleveland Museum of Natural History	1
Dartmouth College	1
Fort Worth Museum Science and History	1
Grayson County Frontier Village Museum	1
Louisiana State Exhibit Museum	1
Loxahatchee Historical Society	1
Missouri Historical Society	1
Northwestern State Univ. of Louisiana	1
Ohio History Connection	1
Rutgers Univ.	1
Univ. of California, Berkeley	1
Univ. of California, Riverside	1
Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign	1
Univ. of Kansas	1
Univ. of Oklahoma	1

Counties of interest used in estimate include: Autauga, Baldwin, Barbour, Bibb, Blount, Bullock, Butler, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Chilton, Choctaw, Clarke, Clay, Cleburne, Coffee, Colbert, Conecuh, Coosa, Covington, Crenshaw, Cullman, Dale, Dallas, Dekalb, Elmore, Escambia, Etowah, Fayette, Franklin, Geneva, Greene, Hale, Henry, Houston, Jackson, Jefferson, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Lee, Limestone, Lowndes, Macon, Madison, Marengo, Marion, Marshall, Mobile, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Perry, Pickens, Pike, Randolph, Russell, Shelby, St. Clair, Sumter, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa, Walker, Washington, Wilcox and Winston in Alabama. Arkansas, Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Chicot, Clark, Clay, Cleburne, Cleveland, Columbia, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Dallas, Desha, Drew, Fulton, Grant, Greene, Hempstead, Hot Spring, Howard, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lawrence, Lee, Lincoln, Little River, Lonoke, Miller, Mississippi, Monroe, Nevada, Ouachita, Phillips, Pike, Poinsett, Prairie, Pulaski, Randolph, Saline, Sevier, Sharp, St. Francis, Stone, Union, White and Woodruff in Arkansas. Alachua, Baker, Bay, Bradford, Brevard, Calhoun, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Escambia, Flagler, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Highlands, Hillsborough, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Lee, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Marion, Nassau, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Putnam, Santa Rosa, Seminole, St. Johns, Sumter, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, Volusia, Wakulla, Walton and Washington in Florida. Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Ben Hill, Berrien, Bibb, Bleckley, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Butts, Calhoun, Camden, Candler, Carroll, Catoosa, Charlton, Chatham, Chattahoochee, Chattooga, Cherokee, Clarke, Clay, Clayton, Clinch, Cobb, Coffee, Colquitt, Columbia, Cook, Coweta, Crawford, Crisp, Dade, Dawson, Decatur, Dekalb, Dodge, Dooly, Dougherty, Douglas, Early, Echols, Effingham, Elbert, Emanuel, Evans, Fannin, Fayette, Floyd, Forsyth, Franklin, Fulton, Gilmer, Glascock, Glynn, Gordon, Grady, Greene, Gwinnett, Habersham, Hall, Hancock, Haralson, Harris, Hart, Heard, Henry, Houston, Irwin, Jackson, Jasper, Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Jones, Lamar, Lanier, Laurens, Lee, Liberty, Lincoln, Long, Lowndes, Lumpkin, Macon, Madison, Marion, Mcduffie, Mcintosh, Meriwether, Miller, Mitchell, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Murray, Muscogee, Newton, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Paulding, Peach, Pickens, Pierce, Pike, Polk, Pulaski, Putnam, Quitman, Rabun, Randolph, Richmond, Rockdale, Schley, Screven, Seminole, Spalding, Stephens, Stewart, Sumter, Talbot, Taliaferro, Tattnall, Taylor, Telfair, Terrell, Thomas, Tift, Toombs, Towns, Treutlen, Troup, Turner, Twiggs, Union, Upson, Walker, Walton, Ware, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Wheeler, White, Whitfield, Wilcox, Wilkes, Wilkinson and Worth in Georgia. Livingston, Lyon, Marshall, Mccracken and Trigg in Kentucky. Acadia, Allen, Ascension, Assumption, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Calcasieu, Caldwell, Cameron, Catahoula, Claiborne, Concordia, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Iberia, Iberville, Jackson, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Lafourche, Lasalle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Orleans, Ouachita, Plaquemines, Pointe Coupee, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John The Baptist, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Tensas, Terrebonne, Union, Vermilion, Vernon, Washington, Webster, West Baton Rouge, West Carroll, West Feliciana and Winn in Louisiana. Adams, Alcorn, Amite, Attala, Benton, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Claiborne, Clarke, Clay, Coahoma, Copiah, Covington, De Soto, Desoto, Forrest, Franklin, George, Greene, Grenada, Hancock, Harrison, Hinds, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena, Itawamba, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Kemper, Lafayette, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Leake, Lee, Leflore, Lincoln, Lowndes, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Monroe, Montgomery, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Panola, Pearl River, Perry, Pike, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Quitman, Rankin, Scott, Sharkey, Simpson, Smith, Stone, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tippah, Tishomingo, Tunica, Union, Walthall, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Wilkinson, Winston, Yalobusha and Yazoo in Mississippi. Muskogee in Oklahoma. Anderson, Bedford, Benton, Bledsoe, Blount, Bradley, Campbell, Cannon, Carroll, Carter, Cheatham, Chester, Claiborne, Clay, Cocke, Coffee, Crockett, Cumberland, Davidson, Decatur, Dekalb, Dickson, Dyer, Fayette, Fentress, Franklin, Gibson, Giles, Grainger, Greene, Grundy, Hamblen, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardeman, Hardin, Hawkins, Haywood, Henderson, 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. Anderson, Angelina, Austin, Bastrop, Bell, Bexar, Blanco, Bosque, Bowie, Brazoria, Brazos, Burleson, Burnet, Caldwell, Camp, Cass, Chambers, Cherokee, Clay, Collin, Colorado, Comal, Comanche, Cooke, Coryell, Dallas, Delta, Denton, Dewitt, Ellis, Erath, Falls, Fannin, Fayette, Fort Bend, Franklin, Freestone, Galveston, Gonzales, Grayson, Gregg, Grimes, Guadalupe, Hamilton, Hardin, Harris, Harrison, Hays, Henderson, Hill, Hood, Hopkins, Houston, Hunt, Jack, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Kaufman, Lamar, Lampasas, Lavaca, Lee, Leon, Liberty, Limestone, Madison, Marion, Matagorda, Mclennan, Milam, Mills, Montague, Montgomery, Morris, Nacogdoches, Navarro, Orange, Palo Pinto, Panola, Parker, Polk, Rains, Red River, Robertson, Rockwall, Rusk, Sabine, San Augustine, Shelby, Smith, Somervell, Tarrant, Titus, Travis, Trinity, Tyler, Upshur, Van Zandt, Walker, Waller, Washington, Wharton, Williamson, Wilson, Wise and Wood in Texas.

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.

More from The Repatriation Project

America’s Biggest Museums Fail to Return Native American Human Remains

The Museum Built on Native American Burial Mounds

Behind ProPublica’s Reporting on Repatriation

Get in touch

Know how an institution is handling repatriation? Have a personal story to share? We'd like to hear from you.

Learn how to report on repatriation

Watch an informational webinar with our reporters.

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.