PHILADELPHIA – The Pennsylvania State Museum in Harrisburg has closed its Native American exhibit, as it reviews thousands of artifacts for compliance with a federal law mandating the repatriation of human remains and funerary objects.
The exhibit was temporarily closed to the public in May to allow staff to identify objects subject to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), PennLive reported Monday.
NAGPRA, signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, requires that federal agencies or institutions that receive federal funding identify any human remains or funerary objects in their collections and return them to tribal nations. In 2024, revisions to the law enacted under former President Joe Biden strengthened tribal nations’ authority and set a five-year deadline for institutions to consult with tribal leaders and update their inventories…