Help Us Investigate Museums’ Failure to Return Native American Human Remains and Cultural Items

Museums and other American institutions hold the remains of more than 100,000 Native American individuals and several hundred thousand funerary objects, despite a 1990 law requiring that they be “expeditiously” returned to tribes.

ProPublica reported on how institutions amassed these remains in the context of violent colonization and created a tool allowing readers to explore the data.

We’d like to hear from you to further our reporting. We’re interested in learning:

If institutions have reported incorrect data on human remains or funerary objects subject to NAGPRA.
What’s happened behind the scenes at institutions, especially private ones, that has prevented repatriation.
How institutions are responding to reporting from ProPublica and other outlets.

We’re also interested in hearing from our Indigenous readers, whether it’s with feedback about our project, personal stories about repatriation or ideas for future reporting. You can read more about our approach to reporting on this sensitive topic.

ProPublica is no longer taking submissions for this particular project. You can find all of our stories on The Repatriation Project page and you can contact us by emailing [email protected].

Help Us Investigate Museums’ Failure to Return Native American Human Remains and Cultural Items

Do you know about how museums and other institutions are handling the repatriation of Native American human remains and cultural items under NAGPRA? We want to hear from you.