NAGPRA Consultation Grant and Repatriation Grant Awards

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The National Park Service (NPS) announces the awarding of $215,247 to assist museums, Indian Tribes, and Alaska Native Villages with implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Of this amount, $155,611 has been awarded for Consultation/ Documentation projects and $59,636 has been awarded for Repatriation projects.

Enacted in 1990, NAGPRA requires museums and federal agencies to inventory and identify Native American human remains and cultural items in their collections, and to consult with culturally affiliated Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages and corporations, and Native Hawaiian organizations regarding repatriation. Section 10 of the Act authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to award grants to assist in implementing provisions of the Act.

Projects to be undertaken by FY2011 Consultation/Documentation grant recipients include consultations to identify and affiliate cultural items, training for tribal staff on the fundamentals of NAGPRA, updating previously completed inventories, creating databases to document NAGPRA items, and numerous other projects that support the NAGPRA goals of documentation and consultation in preparation for repatriation.

In FY2011, the NPS received 37 NAGPRA consultation/documentation grant applications from 20 Indian tribes and Alaska native villages and 17 museums for a total request of approximately $2.8 million. Proposals were reviewed by an expert panel of Native Americans and museum professionals from a variety of Federal agencies. Twenty awards were already made. An additional two awards are being to the two grantees listed below. The award to the Caddo Nation is an adjustment to an existing award.

Additionally, the National Park Service announces the award of six Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Repatriation grants totaling $59,636 to the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, the Gila River Indian Community, the University of Colorado Museum, Boulder, the University of Denver, Department of Anthropology and the Utah Museum of Natural History. The repatriation grants are not competitive and are awarded on a rolling basis to the extent there are funds available. These grants help with costs associated with the transfer from institutions to the tribes. In this case the seven grants will fund repatriation of human remains representing 188 individuals and 174 cultural items from museums across the country to tribes.

For additional information regarding these awards, contact Sangita Chari, National NAGPRA Program, National Park Service, 1201 Eye Street, NW (2253), Washington, DC 20005; telephone (202) 354-2203.