Delaware Nation Repatriation Records — NAGPRA Database

The Repatriation Database Data from Jan. 6, 2025

Where Native American remains made available for return to the Delaware Nation were taken from

Each county is a peak

Height is amount of remains taken from county and made available by institutions for return to tribe

No remains taken from these counties made available for return to tribe

Institution that made remains available for return

Note: Remains of 28 Native Americans with no location information were made available for return to the Delaware Nation.

Under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, when an institution establishes a connection between tribes and remains, it must publish a list of the tribes eligible to make a repatriation claim. The remains are then made available for return to the tribe(s). Once a tribal claim is made, physical transfer may occur. Many remains have been physically returned to tribes, but data on this is spotty because the law does not require institutions to report when these transfers occur.

These 69 institutions made Native American remains available for return to the Delaware Nation.

Institution	Remains Made Available for Return To Tribe
West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History	1,031
Indiana University	725
History Nebraska	586
American Museum of Natural History	252
New Jersey State Museum	208
University of Toledo	154
Ohio History Connection (formerly the Ohio Historical Society)	138
University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology	123
Grand Valley State University	113
Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites Corporation, State of Indiana	102
New York State Museum	80
U.S. Department of the Interior	64
State Museum of Pennsylvania	58
University of Iowa, Office of the State Archaeologist	54
Harvard University	51
Rochester Museum and Science Center	44
Michigan State University	40
U.S. Department of Defense	40
Field Museum	39
Marshall University	38
Hamilton County Department of Parks and Recreation	34
SUNY, University at Albany	30
Seton Hall University	26
Fort Ticonderoga	21
Princeton University	17
SUNY, Binghamton, Department of Anthropology	17
Indiana Department of Transportation	12
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology	11
Temple University, Department of Anthropology	9
Museum of Ojibwa Culture and Marquette Mission Park - City of St. Ignace	8
Coe College	7
Historical Society of Saginaw County, Inc.	7
Mutter Museum, College of Physicians of Philadelphia	6
Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology, Phillips Academy	5
Ball State University, Applied Anthropology Laboratories	4
New York University, College of Dentistry	4
Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences	4
University of California, Berkeley	4
University of New Hampshire	4
Beloit College, Logan Museum of Anthropology	3
Brooklyn Children's Museum	3
Gilcrease Museum	3
Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology	3
Michigan State Police	3
Oregon State University	3
Texas A and M University	3
U.S. Department of Justice	3
Valentine Museum	3
Virginia Living Museum	3
Warren County Cultural and Heritage Commission, Shippen Manor	3
Bruce Museum	2
Denver Museum of Nature and Science	2
Historic Hugeuenot Street	2
Mercyhurst Univ.	2
MetroParks of the Toledo Area	2
Moravian Historical Society	2
Northern Illinois Univ.	2
SUNY Broome Community College	2
Southern Methodist University	2
Athens County Historical Society and Museum	1
Berrien County Sheriff's Office	1
Carnegie Museum of Natural History	1
City of Traverse City	1
Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum	1
Lambertville Historical Society	1
Michigan State Historic Preservation Office	1
Morris Museum	1
Sandusky Library, Follett House Museum	1
Town of Germantown	1

Timeline of Native American remains made available for return to the Delaware Nation

Tribal and institutional capacity, funding, staffing, regulatory changes, audits, Review Committee decisions and litigation may influence timelines. Under NAGPRA, institutions make Native American remains available for return and determine whether they are culturally affiliated using evidence such as tribal traditional knowledge and biological and archaeological links. From 2010 to 2024, remains could also be returned through disposition based on geographic affiliation. Institutions can also determine that remains are culturally unidentifiable. Tribes may request the transfer of these remains, or they may be reinterred by the institution.

These institutions have not made available for return the remains of at least 14,100 Native Americans that were taken from counties known to be of interest to the Delaware Nation.

These are estimates calculated using remains not made available for return from counties that the tribe has previously been eligible to claim remains from, as well as counties that the tribe has indicated interest in to the federal government. They are not comprehensive figures. The tribe may not wish to claim the remains, and other tribes may also seek to claim them.

Institution	Remains Not Made Available for Return That Were Taken From Counties of Interest to the Tribe
Ohio History Connection	6,600
State Museum of Pennsylvania	854
Virginia Dept. of Historic Resources	676
Indiana Univ.	607 Glenn A. Black Lab. of Archeology (357) Dept. of Anthropology (250)
Univ. of Michigan	539
Carnegie Museum of Natural History	497
Univ. of Kentucky	302
Harvard Univ.	287
Dept. of Defense	273 Tulsa District (109) Little Rock District (65) Fort Worth District (40) Huntington District (17) Pittsburgh District (13) Norfolk District (9) National Museum of Health and Medicine (8) Baltimore District (7) Aberdeen Proving Ground (3) Omaha District (1) St. Louis District (1)
Univ. of Louisville	243
Field Museum	238
Illinois State Museum	236
Univ. of Toledo	187
Pennsylvania Western Univ., California	183
Ball State Univ.	179
Maryland Historical Trust	170
West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History	152
Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	149
Indiana State Univ.	139
Univ. of Texas at Austin	120
North Museum of Nature and Science	115
Temple Univ.	111
Univ. of Missouri, Columbia	111
Cleveland Museum of Natural History	99
Allen County Museum and Historical Society	65
Museum of Texas Tech Univ.	60
Western Kentucky Univ.	59
Dayton Museum of Natural History	56
Southern Illinois Univ., Carbondale	51
Univ. of Oklahoma	49 Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History (40) Oklahoma Archeological Survey (9)
Northern Kentucky Univ.	48
Center for American Archeology, Kampsville Archeological Center	45
Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites Corporation	44
American Museum of Natural History	42
Yale Univ.	40
Tioga Point Museum	36
Cleveland State Univ.	35
Case Western Reserve Univ.	31
Gilcrease Museum	30
Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology	30
Univ. of Pennsylvania	27
Heidelberg Univ.	25
Kansas State Historical Society	24
Univ. of Kansas	23
Missouri State Univ.	20
Rochester Museum and Science Center	18
Grand Rapids Public Museum	17
SUNY Univ. at Buffalo	14
Wayne State Univ.	14
Michigan State Historic Preservation Office	12
Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources	11
Charleston Museum	9
Nassau County Dept. of Parks and Recreation	9
Ohio Univ.	9
Dept. of Agriculture	9 Shawnee NF (4) George Washington and Jefferson NF (3) Mark Twain NF (1) Wayne NF (1)
Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign	9
New Harmony Workingmen's Institute	8
Tippecanoe County Historical Association	8
Clark County Historical Museum	7
Kent State Univ.	7
Purdue Univ.	7
Univ. of Arkansas	7
Warren County Historical Society	7
Filson Historical Society	6
New York Univ.	6
West Texas A and M Univ.	6
Pennsylvania State Univ.	5
Univ. of Akron	5
Western Reserve Historical Society	5
Hastings Museum	4
Springfield Science Museum	4
Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville	4
Earlham College	3
Henry County Historical Society	3
Univ. of Florida	3
Univ. of Memphis	3
Univ. of Missouri, St. Louis	3
Univ. of Southern Indiana	3
Alma College	2
Brigham Young Univ.	2
Goshen College	2
Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum	2
Marshall Univ.	2
Seton Hall Univ.	2
Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer	2
Dept. of the Interior	2 Chautauqua NWR (1) Chesapeake and Ohio Canal NHP (1)
Bridgewater College	1
Cass County Historical Society Museum	1
Chemung County Historical Society	1
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History	1
Grayson County Frontier Village Museum	1
Lackawanna Historical Society	1
Louisiana State Exhibit Museum	1
Madison County Historical Society	1
Milwaukee Public Museum	1
Minnesota Indian Affairs Council	1
Newark Museum	1
No Man's Land Historical Society	1
Southeast Missouri State Univ.	1
Texas A and M Univ.	1
Texas Dept. of Transportation	1
Texas Historical Commission	1
Univ. of Nebraska State Museum	1
Univ. of Notre Dame	1

Counties of interest used in estimate include: Baxter, Carroll, Clay, Franklin, Greene, Izard, Lafayette, Logan, Marion, Miller, Pope, Searcy, Stone, Van Buren and Yell in Arkansas. Fairfield in Connecticut. Kent, New Castle and Sussex in Delaware. Alexander, Gallatin, Hancock, Jo Daviess, Lawrence, Marshall, Mclean, Randolph and White in Illinois. Bartholomew, Clark, Delaware, Dubois, Floyd, Hamilton, Harrison, Henry, Knox, La Porte, Madison, Marion, Orange, Posey, Steuben, Tippecanoe, Vanderburgh, Warrick, Washington and Wells in Indiana. Douglas, Johnson, Leavenworth and Wyandotte in Kansas. Ballard, Boone, Bracken, Breckinridge, Bullitt, Caldwell, Calloway, Campbell, Carlisle, Carroll, Crittenden, Daviess, Fulton, Gallatin, Graves, Greenup, Hancock, Hardin, Henderson, Hickman, Jefferson, Kenton, Lewis, Livingston, Marshall, Mason, Mccracken, Meade, Oldham, Pendleton, Trimble and Union in Kentucky. Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Caroline, Carroll, Cecil, Charles, Dorchester, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Howard, Kent, Montgomery, Prince George's, Queen Anne's, Somerset, St. Mary's, Talbot, Washington, Wicomico and Worcester in Maryland. Allegan, Berrien, Emmet, Hillsdale, Ionia, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Kent, Mackinac, Macomb, Mecosta, Missaukee, Monroe, Newaygo, Ottawa, Saginaw and Wayne in Michigan. Barry, Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Christian, Crawford, Greene, Lawrence, Madison, Monroe, Perry, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, Stone, Taney, Wayne and Webster in Missouri. Adams, Antelope, Boone, Boyd, Burt, Cass, Cedar, Chase, Cherry, Cuming, Custer, Dakota, Dawes, Dawson, Dixon, Dodge, Douglas, Dundy, Franklin, Frontier, Furnas, Gage, Garden, Garfield, Hall, Harlan, Hitchcock, Hooker, Howard, Keith, Keya Paha, Knox, Lancaster, Lincoln, Mcpherson, Morrill, Nance, Nemaha, Platte, Red Willow, Richardson, Sarpy, Saunders, Sherman, Sioux, Stanton, Thayer, Valley, Washington and Webster in Nebraska. Allen, Ashland, Athens, Carroll, Champaign, Clark, Coshocton, Crawford, Cuyahoga, Defiance, Delaware, Erie, Fairfield, Franklin, Fulton, Guernsey, Hancock, Harrison, Henry, Hocking, Jefferson, Knox, Licking, Logan, Lorain, Lucas, Madison, Marion, Meigs, Miami, Morgan, Morrow, Muskingum, Ottawa, Perry, Portage, Richland, Ross, Sandusky, Scioto, Summit, Tuscarawas, Union, Washington, Williams and Wood in Ohio. Bryan, Caddo, Canadian, Choctaw, Comanche, Garfield, Garvin, Kingfisher and Mcclain in Oklahoma. Adams, Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Berks, Blair, Bradford, Bucks, Butler, Cambria, Cameron, Carbon, Centre, Chester, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Columbia, Crawford, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Elk, Erie, Fayette, Forest, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Huntingdon, Indiana, Jefferson, Juniata, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lawrence, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Lycoming, Mckean, Mercer, Mifflin, Monroe, Montgomery, Montour, Northampton, Northumberland, Perry, Philadelphia, Pike, Potter, Schuylkill, Snyder, Somerset, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, Union, Venango, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Westmoreland, Wyoming and York in Pennsylvania. Cherokee, Cooke, Crockett, Delta, Denton, Grayson, Henderson, Hill, Johnson, Kaufman, Leon, Red River, Reeves, Smith, Somervell, Tarrant, Taylor, Williamson and Young in Texas. Accomack, Albemarle, Alexandria, Alleghany, Amelia, Amherst, Appomattox, Arlington, Augusta, Bath, Bedford, Bland, Botetourt, Bristol, Brunswick, Buchanan, Buckingham, Buena Vista, Campbell, Caroline, Carroll, Charles City, Charlotte, Charlottesville, Chesapeake, Chesterfield, Clarke, Colonial Heights, Covington, Craig, Culpeper, Cumberland, Danville, Dickenson, Dinwiddie, Emporia, Essex, Fairfax, Falls Church, Fauquier, Floyd, Fluvanna, Franklin, Frederick, Fredericksburg, Galax, Giles, Gloucester, Goochland, Grayson, Greene, Greensville, Halifax, Hampton, Hanover, Harrisonburg, Henrico, Henry, Highland, Hopewell, Isle Of Wight, James City, King And Queen, King George, King William, Lancaster, Lee, Lexington, Loudoun, Louisa, Lunenburg, Lynchburg, Madison, Manassas, Manassas Park, Martinsville, Mathews, Mecklenburg, Middlesex, Montgomery, Nelson, New Kent, Newport News, Norfolk, Northampton, Northumberland, Norton, Nottoway, Orange, Page, Patrick, Petersburg, Pittsylvania, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Powhatan, Prince Edward, Prince George, Prince William, Pulaski, Radford, Rappahannock, Richmond, Roanoke, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Russell, Salem, Scott, Shenandoah, Smyth, Southampton, Spotsylvania, Stafford, Staunton, Suffolk, Surry, Sussex, Tazewell, Virginia Beach, Warren, Washington, Waynesboro, Westmoreland, Williamsburg, Winchester, Wise, Wythe and York in Virginia. Addison in Vermont.

Search for institutions holding Native American remains and tribes seeking to reclaim them

Try the University of California, Berkeley, the Chickasaw Nation or Arizona.

Institutions that have not submitted information to the federal government are not listed.

These tribes were also listed when institutions culturally affiliated Native American remains to the Delaware Nation. Institutions often make remains available for return to multiple tribes, so the amount of remains listed below may be counted for more than one tribe.

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About the Data

This tool presents a dataset maintained by the National Park Service containing all the Native American human remains and associated funerary objects that institutions have reported to the federal government under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The dataset includes information about the state and county where remains and objects were taken from, which institutions hold them and whether they have been made available for return to tribes.

The data is self-reported by institutions. The amount of unrepatriated Native American remains reported by institutions is a minimum estimate of individuals and institutions frequently adjust these numbers when they reinventory groups of remains. Some institutions that are subject to NAGPRA have also entirely failed to report the remains in their possession. As a result, the numbers provided are best taken as estimates. The actual number and geographic scope of what’s held by publicly funded institutions is larger than what is presently documented.

ProPublica supplemented this dataset with information about cultural affiliation and disposition to specific tribes by systematically parsing the text of Notices of Inventory Completion published in the Federal Register. An additional dataset from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Tribal Directory Assessment Tool, was used for the section on remains not made available for return from counties that each tribe has indicated interest in to the federal government.

Institution location and tribal headquarters location information was provided by National NAGPRA. The location of some groups that are not federally recognized was provided through research by ProPublica.

Institutions that are part of a larger entity are grouped. (For example, the Mesa Verde National Park is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior.)

Institutions that have not submitted information to the federal government are not listed. The Smithsonian Institution is not listed because its repatriation process falls under the National Museum of the American Indian Act and it is not required to publicly report its holdings with the same detail as institutions subject to NAGPRA.

If you work for an institution and would like to provide comment on your institution’s repatriation efforts, please email [email protected]. If you think the data is incorrect or have a data request, please get in touch. We are aware of some issues with the accuracy of location information and tribes mistakenly being identified for disposition of Native American remains in published notices.

If you want to share something else with ProPublica, we’d like to hear from you.

If you have questions about implementing or complying with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, get in touch with National NAGPRA or the NAGPRA Community of Practice.

We use the word “tribes” to refer to all groups that institutions made Native American remains available to under NAGPRA. This includes tribes, nations, bands, pueblos, communities, Native Alaskan villages, Native Hawaiian organizations and non-federally recognized groups.

Data sources from Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National NAGPRA Program, the Federal Register, Department of Housing and Development, Tribal Directory Assessment Tool

by Ash Ngu and Andrea Suozzo Jan. 11, 2023 Data from Jan. 6, 2025 Additional reporting by Asia Fields, Mary Hudetz and Logan Jaffe for ProPublica and Graham Brewer for NBC News. Additional development by Alec Glassford.