The American Museum of Natural History has opened two major exhibits displaying Native American artifacts to comply with new federal regulations that require museums to obtain consent from Native American groups before displaying or studying objects or artifacts. Close the hall.
Starting this Saturday, AMNH will close its two halls dedicated to the Eastern Woodlands and Great Plains, as well as other display cases featuring cultural artifacts from North America's indigenous peoples, AMNH President Sean Decatur told staff Friday morning. The announcement was made in a letter addressed to.
“The halls we are closing are products of a time when museums like ours did not respect Indigenous values and perspectives, and certainly our shared humanity,” Decatur said in a post. said in a letter obtained by the paper.
“What may be a sudden move to some may seem like a long time coming to others,” he added.
The closure will result in approximately 10,00 square feet of exhibit space being closed to visitors. The New York Times pointed out that.
The museum could not say when it would reopen the exhibits it considered, the store said.
“As a result of the consultation process, some exhibits may never be displayed again. However, we will consider creating a small program that can explain what processes are underway across the museum. Decatur told the Times.
The change is in response to new federal regulations that went into effect this month regarding the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).
Founded in 1990, NAGPRA sought to provide procedures for museums and other institutions to return Native American remains, burial objects, and other “cultural heritage” to recognized tribes. According to the National Park Service.
The policy noted that many of the remains and objects in question were either confiscated from indigenous peoples without their consent, or were unearthed and removed by non-indigenous anthropologists and collectors in disregard of tribal traditions. .
But for years, critics have criticized the bill for making too many loopholes for the system while imposing unreasonable demands on Native American tribes. Cato Institute review explained.
New regulations approved last month are aimed at alleviating some of these conflicts, including that “remains and cultural artifacts must be displayed, accessed, and studied on a free, prior and informed basis.” It also includes a provision that states that “consent based on the law is required.”
The revised addendum also aims to speed up returns by giving the agency five years to prepare for the repatriation of all human remains and related items, and giving tribes more authority in the process.
“We're finally being heard. This is not a fight, it's a conversation,” Mayra Maciel Zamora, an archaeologist and curator of the Pechanga Indian Band, told the Times. Ta.
“We can say, 'This needs to come back,' and we hope there's no backlash,” she said, adding that there is a noticeable increase in conversations with institutions just two weeks after the new regulations went into effect. The change will take effect from January 12, it added.
Museum leaders are consulting with attorneys and additional curators as they prepare to comply with the policy, the newspaper said.
Many educational institutions also plan to hire staff to meet the requirements.
Similar changes are underway at other museums, including Chicago's Field Museum, according to the Times, but the changes at AMNH, which has about 5 million visitors a year, will likely be among the most notable. right.
“What may seem strange to some is because of the concepts museums add to their descriptions of the world of amber. But museums are at their best when they reflect changing ideas. “It will be,” Decatur told the magazine.
The Times said some of the items removed from the exhibit were used on field trips to teach students about Native American tribes.
Highlights such as the Menominee canoe and the Hopi Katsina doll will no longer be accessible, the outlet said.
The new regulation has received some pushback, including concerns from the Society for American Archeology that the provision interferes with museum collection management practices.
The return of indigenous human remains, which cannot normally be displayed and are kept in museums across the country, is a key goal of the new regulations.
As of 2023, the remains of approximately 96,000 people are in institutional storage. federal report reveals.
But there is also concern from some tribal leaders who fear they won't be able to keep up with a flood of new requests from museums, the Times reported.
Scott Willard, who works on repatriation issues for the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, expressed displeasure at a committee meeting last June that the new regulations made Native American remains sound like “disposable items,” the newspaper reported. Reported.
“The idea of a garage sale, 'Let's just let everything go right now,' is very off-putting to us,” he said at the time.
