Native American Exhibits Shut Down at NYC Natural History Museum

The American Museum of Natural History in New York City has closed access to its Native American exhibits as part of a new rule implemented by the Biden Administration. The rule requires authorities to return or seek permission from tribes before displaying Native American artifacts. In a letter to staff, the museum’s president, Sean Decatur, announced the closure of two halls filled with Native American objects and the covering of cases in three other halls. School field trips to one hall will also be suspended. However, the museum remains committed to supporting education about Indigenous peoples and has kept another exhibit developed with Indigenous communities open.

Decatur explained that the actions taken by the museum reflect a growing urgency among all museums to change their relationships with and representation of Indigenous cultures. The closed halls are seen as remnants of a time when museums did not respect the values, perspectives, and humanity of Indigenous peoples. While these actions may seem sudden to some, they are long overdue for others.

The new rule, an update to the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, came into effect on January 12. It regulates the return of Native American human remains and sacred, cultural, or funeral objects to the descendants of those communities. The Natural History Museum had already removed all human remains from display in October, many of which belonged to Native American or Black enslaved people.

Several other museums across the country, including the Field Museum in Chicago, Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, have also covered exhibits or are working on repatriating remains to comply with the updated law. This follows a recent reckoning over the history of publicly displayed items, as Native Americans have sought justice and respect for the remains of their ancestors and artifacts obtained without consent. Universities, such as the University of California, Berkeley, have also faced scrutiny for possessing Native American remains and have begun the process of identifying and returning them to tribes.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, the first Native American to oversee the agency implementing the new rule, stated that the updated law is an essential tool for the safe return of sacred objects to the communities from which they were stolen. The changes aim to strengthen the authority and role of Indigenous communities in the repatriation process, laying the groundwork for healing.

The repatriation debate extends beyond the U.S., as British museums have previously returned Native American remains to an Oregon tribe. This week, they also agreed to return looted gold and silver items to Ghana on a long-term loan agreement, responding to requests for return from other governments.