Indiana University will repatriate 27 sacred objects to the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma in accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
"We are immensely pleased that these important cultural objects are returning to the Pawnee Nation," IU NAGPRA Director Jayne-Leigh Thomas said. "We are also looking forward to continuing to work together and strengthening our partnership, both in NAGPRA and other collaborative projects."
Under NAGPRA, federal legislation provides a process for institutions that receive federal funding to transfer Native American cultural items to lineal descendants and federally recognized Native American tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations. IU has long worked collaboratively with tribal partners to pursue the repatriation of collections that are within the care of the university.
Thomas has worked closely with Martha "Marti" Only A Chief on the repatriation, who is a tribal member and represents the Pawnee Nation as their NAGPRA coordinator. Only A Chief has only seen these sacred items in photographs.
"It is emotional to know my relatives had worn or used these," Only A Chief said. "Bringing them home to Pawnee, Oklahoma, where the Pawnee Nation is now located after being forcibly removed from our homelands, is very important to us. Now our Pawnee relatives, children and grandchildren will be able to see the objects that we have heard about through stories of the people who wore them or were used in our ceremonies.
"It has been a long time coming, and I want to thank Indiana University and NAGPRA Director Jayne-Leigh Thomas, who I have the utmost respect for. The journey of our sacred objects has come to a close, but our relationship will continue for years to come."
In July, IU's NAGPRA office partnered with colleagues at the University of Illinois to co-host the second annual Intensive NAGPRA Summer Training and Education Program. The program is designed to teach museum personnel, tribal representatives and graduate students across the country about the law and best practices for the repatriation of ancestral remains and cultural objects.
In addition, IU and the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma co-hosted the Department of the Interior's annual National NAGPRA Review Committee Meeting at IU Bloomington in 2023. This marked one of the few times this meeting was co-hosted by a university and a tribe and the first time it was held in Indiana or any Midwestern state from which Native populations were removed in the 1800s.
"Indiana University is fully committed to ensuring compliance with NAGPRA and growing our relationships with tribal communities," IU Vice President for Research Russell J. Mumper said. "We value these important partnerships and look forward to continued collaboration in the future."
