The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act was enacted in 1990, requiring museums and federal agencies to identify and send back stolen sacred items to their respective cultural groups, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. But after widespread complaints of poor compliance, the Interior Department recently issued new rules that strengthen the law, setting a deadline of five years for the federally funded entities to ensure their collections comply.
The American Museum of Natural History in New York will close two halls dedicated to Indigenous cultures of North America and seven additional cases starting this Saturday while staff review whether artifacts within them need consent, museum President Sean Decatur announced in an email to staff on Friday.
“While the actions we are taking this week may seem sudden, they reflect a growing urgency among all museums to change their relationships to, and representation of, Indigenous cultures,” Decatur said. “The Halls we are closing are vestiges of an era when museums such as ours did not…
