JUNEAU, AK (August 8, 2023) – The Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (Tlingit & Haida) has been awarded a total of $143,000 from the National Park Service (NPS) under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Of the total award, $99,000 was awarded under a competitive grant process for consultation and documentation and $42,000 will go toward repatriation work.
NAGPRA was enacted in 1990 and requires museums and federal agencies to inventory and identify human remains and cultural items in their collection. This repatriation process helps to ensure the return of certain Native American cultural items (human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony) to lineal descendants, culturally affiliated Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations.
“Tlingit & Haida is committed to supporting our clans and bringing our ancestors home. The foundation of our Cultural Resources program is to return our ancestors so our clans can integrate them back into ceremonial life,” said President Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson.”
The grants will be administered by Tlingit & Haida’s Native Lands and Resources (NLR) Division and used to conduct research and consultation with the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University of California Berkeley and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
NLR Senior Director Desiree Duncan said the late Tlingit Elder Cyril George’s expression about repatriation is what comes to mind for her with the announcement of this new round of NAGPRA grant funding to help our clans, "Yeedát sá yei át yatee, oo awduudlixhaaji kháa, heinaxh kháa géidéi yaxh ghaagoot. Life should be this way, that someone you’ve given up hope of ever seeing again suddenly comes walking around the corner."
The Cultural Resources program seeks the return and protection of objects of cultural patrimony, sacred objects, funerary objects and human remains in accordance with NAGPRA and the National Museum of the American Indian Act (NMAIA) of 1989. The program also provides technical assistance to communities and tribes throughout Southeast Alaska.
Since 1993, Tlingit & Haida’s Cultural Resources program has been successful in repatriating numerous artifacts on behalf of tribal communities under NAGPRA - to date, more than 130 objects have been repatriated. Just last year, nine objects of cultural patrimony were repatriated.
The most recent repatriation under the Tribe’s NAGPRA grant is a Kéet Kudás’ (Killer Whale Shirt) from the Naanya.aayí clan of Wrangell, Alaska which was worn by Charlie Jones (Chief Shakes VII) in 1940.
“I heard from my mother, Carol (James) Feller Brady that Charlie Jones was her great uncle and the Naanya.aayí clan is so excited to receive the Killer Whale Tunic back,” said Naanya.aayí clan member Luella Knapp. “It is beautiful!”
To read the NPS announcement of NAGPRA grant awards, click here.
For more information on Tlingit & Haida's Cultural Resources program, contact the Native Lands & Resources Division: 1.800.344.1432 ext. 7183 • 907.463.7183 • [email protected].