New York City's American Museum of Natural History will close two major exhibits of Native American artifacts in response to new Biden administration regulations that require museums to obtain consent from tribes before displaying or performing research on cultural items.
New federal regulations this month went into effect that were designed to hasten returns of human remains, funerary objects, and other sacred items.
Institutions were given five years to prepare all pertinent items for repatriation and give more authority to tribes throughout the process.
U.S. museums have been removing and covering up displays as curators try to determine whether they can be shown under the new regulations.
"The halls we are closing are artifacts of an era when museums such as ours did not respect the values, perspectives and indeed shared humanity of Indigenous peoples," museum President Sean Decatur wrote in a letter to staff on Friday morning, The New York Times reported. "Actions that may feel sudden to some may seem long overdue to others."
Galleries dedicated to the Eastern Woodlands and the Great Plains are closing this weekend.
"We're finally being heard — and it's not a fight, it's a conversation," said Myra Masiel-Zamora, an archaeologist and curator with the Pechanga Band of Indians, the Times reported.
Other display cases featuring Native American cultural items will be covered as the museum works to make sure it is in compliance with the new federal rules.
"Some objects may never come back on display as a result of the consultation process," Decatur said, the Times reported. "But we are looking to create smaller-scale programs throughout the museum that can explain what kind of process is underway."
The Field Museum in Chicago has covered some Native American displays to comply with the new federal rules, CBS News reported. The displays are in the Field's Robert R. McCormick Halls of the Ancient Americas and the Alsdorf Hall of Northwest Coast and Arctic Peoples.
"These display cases have been covered because they contain cultural items that could be subject to these updated NAGPRA regulations. There are no Native American human remains on display at the Field Museum," the museum said, CBS News reported.
The Cleveland Museum said in a statement that concealing its Native American displays was in direct response to the updated 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), News 5 Cleveland reported.
Many institutions are being forced to hire staff to comply with the new rules.
Some tribal officials have said the new rules will result in a huge number of requests from museums that may be beyond their capacities and could create a financial burden, the Times reported.
Scott Willard, who works on repatriation issues for the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, told a committee that reviews the implementation of the law that the rhetoric regarding the new regulations sometimes made it sound as if Native ancestors were "throwaway items."
"This garage sale mentality of 'give it all away right now' is very offensive to us," Willard said, the outlet reported.
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Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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