MVSKOKE RESERVATION– Two Oklahoma institutions, the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History in Norman and the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, are increasing efforts to comply with The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), seeking to return ancestors and cultural items to their respective Native Nations, lineal descendants, or Native Hawaiian organizations.
With the publication of the Final Rule, which updated NAGPRA regulations to simplify the process and improve compliance, there has been an uptick in repatriations, reinternments, and returns. The updates, effective Jan. 12, 2024, include emphasizing traditional tribal knowledge and oral tradition when determining cultural affiliation and clearer timelines for reporting and repatriation.
According to compiled federal data, the Sam Noble Museum, which is affiliated with The University of Oklahoma, holds the 18th largest collection of remains, 1400 ancestors that have yet to find their way home. Sam Noble doesn’t bear all the responsibility for the failure to return. Of those 1400 ancestors 38 are held by Oklahoma Archeological Survey, none of which have been made available for repatriation.
Both OU and Sam Noble have taken steps to nurture their NAGPRA programs in recent years. In 2023, the university appointed an independent NAGPRA Oversight Committee to facilitate compliance. Sam Noble recently hired Zachery Garrett as its first full time NAGPRA program coordinator. Garrett was previously the NAGPRA coordinator at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
These efforts are paying off. Marc Levine, Associate Curator of Archaeology at Sam Noble and Associate Professor in the OU Department of Anthropology, shared that the institution has prepared a total of 751 sets of ancestral remains and 1,588 funerary objects for repatriation in 2024, according to a report in the OU Daily.
Tulsa’s Gilcrease Museum is preparing to repatriate 64 ancestors and 1,322 funerary items to Native Nations, according to a deaccession report obtained by News on 6.
Gilcrease currently holds the 58th largest collection of unrepatriated remains in the U.S. That number represents only 200 ancestors, the museum having sent home 58% of the over 600 it previously held. According to Director of Repatriation Laura Bryant, Gilcrease also began removing items from their online collections in 2018 that may be culturally sensitive until they can consult with Native Nations about the propriety of having them displayed.
Native graves and sacred sites have had a history of criminal looting, desecration, and, in the name of science, excavation. According to 2025 data, all but two of the top ten institutions that continue to hold the largest collection of ancestors are universities. These institutions created a legacy of prioritizing archeological and anthropological study in the service of higher education. That service came at the expense of Indigenous Peoples and their communities. Both OU’s Sam Noble and Tulsa University’s Gilcrease are taking steps to change that legacy.
Gilcrease Museum is currently closed for construction but their collections can be viewed on their site. Sam Noble Museum is open Tues-Sat from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sun 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
