Stopping the steal: NYC museum is closing two Native American halls. Harvard and others have taken similar steps

[cbabe]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-famed-nyc-museum-is-closing-two-native-american-halls-harvard-and-others-have-taken-similar-steps/ar-BB1hkKf9

A famed NYC museum is closing two Native American halls. Harvard and others have taken similar steps

By PHILIP MARCELO,
Associated Press
Jan 26, 2024

NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s American Museum of Natural History is closing two halls featuring Native American objects starting Saturday, acknowledging the exhibits are “severely outdated” and contain culturally sensitive items.

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The museum said in October that it would pull all human remains from public display, with the aim of eventually repatriating as much as it could to Native American tribes and other rightful owners.

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Shannon O’Loughlin, head of the Association on American Indian Affairs, a national group that has long called for museums to comply with the federal requirements, welcomed such developments but said the true test is what ultimately becomes of the removed items.
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Jason Newton, a Harvard spokesperson, said the Peabody is committed to returning all ancestral remains and funerary items and has more than doubled the number of staffers working toward that end in recent months. The museum also announced this month that it would cover the expenses of tribal members traveling to campus as part of the repatriation process.

…more…

[mopinko]

1. the field has been grappling w this. it's mentioned in the article.

i know just what they covered up. havent been there in decades, but spent a lot of time there w my kids.
trying to remember an announcement pritzker made a while back about this. iirc, it was about an agreement w a coalition of tribes and both the field, and the state museums.
they’ve already returned a lot of things, but methods at the time have made it hard to figure out just who things shd b returned to.

i have a sneaking suspicion that the field isnt mad about this. that’s the dusty corner of a place that has slowly remade itself since the 80’s. i’d bet there r plans on the drawing board already.
suspect the other museums feel the same.