NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Tucked within the expansive Native American halls of the American Museum of Natural History is a diminutive wooden doll that holds a sacred place among the tribes whose territories once included Manhattan.
For more than six months now, the ceremonial Ohtas, or Doll Being, has been hidden from view after the museum and others nationally took dramatic steps to in response to new federal rules requiring institutions to return sacred or culturally significant items to tribes 鈥� or at least to obtain consent to display or study them.
Museum officials are reviewing more than 1,800 items as they work to comply with the requirements while also eyeing a broader overhaul of the more than half-century-old exhibits.
But some tribal leaders remain skeptical, saying museums have not acted swiftly enough. The new rules, after all, were prompted by years of complaints from tribes that that should have been returned under the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 still remain in museum custody.
鈥淚f things move slowly, then address that,鈥� said Joe Baker, a Manhattan resident and member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians, descendants of the Lenape peoples European traders encountered . 鈥淭he collections, they鈥檙e part of our story, part of our family. We need them home. We need them close.鈥�
Sean Decatur, the New York museum鈥檚 president, promised tribes will hear from officials soon. He said staff these past few months have been reexamining the displayed objects in order to begin contacting tribal communities.
Museum officials envision a total overhaul of the closed Eastern Woodlands and Great Plains halls 鈥� akin to the completed in 2022 in close collaboration with tribes, Decatur added.
鈥淭he ultimate aim is to make sure we鈥檙e getting the stories right,鈥� he said.
Discussions with tribal representatives over the Ohtas began in 2021 and will continue, museum officials said, even though the doll does actually not fall under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act because it is associated with a tribe outside the U.S., the Munsee-Delaware Nation in Ontario, sa国际传媒.
The museum also plans to open a small exhibit in the fall incorporating Native American voices and explaining the history of the closed halls, why changes are being made and what the future holds, he said.
Lance Gumbs, vice chairman of the Shinnecock Indian Nation, a federally recognized tribe in New York鈥檚 Hamptons, said he worries about the loss of representation of local tribes in public institutions, with exhibit closures likely stretching into years.
The American Museum of Natural History, he noted, is one of New York鈥檚 major tourism draws and also a mainstay for generations of area students learning about the region鈥檚 tribes.
He suggests museums use replicas made by Native peoples so that sensitive cultural items aren鈥檛 physically on display.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think tribes want to have our history written out of museums,鈥� Gumbs said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 got to be a better way than using artifacts that literally were stolen out of gravesites.鈥�
Gordon Yellowman, who heads the department of language and culture for the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, said museums should look to create more digital and virtual exhibits.
He said the tribes, in Oklahoma, will be seeking from the New York museum a sketchbook by the Cheyenne warrior Little Finger Nail that contains his drawings and illustrations from battle.
The book, which is in storage and not on display, was plucked from his body after he and other tribe members were killed by U.S. soldiers in Nebraska in 1879.
鈥淭hese drawings weren鈥檛 just made because they were beautiful," Yellowman said. "They were made to show the actual history of the Cheyenne and Arapaho people.鈥�
Institutions elsewhere are taking other approaches.
In Chicago, the Field Museum has established a Center for Repatriation after covering up several cases in its halls dedicated to ancient America and the peoples of the coastal Northwest and Arctic.
The museum has completed four repatriations to tribes involving around 40 items over the past six months, with at least three more repatriations pending involving additional items. Those repatriations were through efforts that were underway before the new regulations, according to Field Museum spokesperson Bridgette Russell.
At the Cleveland Museum in Ohio, a case displaying artifacts from the Tlingit people in Alaska has been reopened after their leadership gave consent, according to Todd Mesek, the museum鈥檚 spokesperson. But two other displays remain covered up, with one containing funerary objects from the ancient Southwest to be redone with a different topic and materials.
And at Harvard, the Peabody Museum鈥檚 North American Indian hall reopened in February after about 15% of its roughly 350 items were removed from displays, university spokesperson Nicole Rura said.
Chuck Hoskin, chief of the Cherokee Nation, said he believes many institutions now understand they can no longer treat Indigenous items as 鈥渕useum curiosities鈥� from 鈥減eoples that no longer exist.鈥�
The leader of the tribe in Oklahoma said he visited the Peabody this year after the university reached out about returning collected in the early 1930s from hundreds of Indigenous children, including Cherokees, forced to assimilate in the .
鈥淭he fact that we鈥檙e in a position to sit down with Harvard and have a really meaningful conversation, that鈥檚 progress for the country,鈥� he said.
As for Baker, he wants the Ohtas returned to its tribe. He said the ceremonial doll should never have been on display, especially arranged as it was among wooden bowls, spoons and other everyday items.
鈥淚t has a spirit. It鈥檚 a living being," Baker said. "So if you think about it being hung on a wall all these years in a static case, suffocating for lack of air, it鈥檚 just horrific, really.鈥� ___ This story was first published on Jul. 29, 2024. It was updated on Jul. 31, 2024, to correct the scope of repatriations to tribes undertaken by the Field Museum in Chicago.
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Philip Marcelo, The Associated Press
