Bones of Contention: The Repatriation of Native American Human Remains

Abstract

ANDREW GULLIFORD is an associate professor of history and director of the Public History and Historic Preservation graduate program at Middle Tennessee State University. He has worked with interdisciplinary teams to prepare nominations of Indian trails for the National Register of Historic Places, and he regularly consults on repatriation and tribal museum issues. His photographs of American sites have been published on the cover of the Advisory Council's Report to the President and Congress of the United States and The Secretary of the Interior's Report to Congress: Federal Archaeological Programs and Activities. His article Native Americans and Museums: Curation and Repatriation of Sacred and Tribal Objects appeared in The Public Historian 14, no. 3 (Summer 1992). This article could not have been researched and written without the generous assistance of the James Marston Fitch Foundation of New York City and the author's receipt of a grant to study tribal historic preservation. The author would also like to thank Professors Fred Rolater and Lorne McWatters for their assistance and willingness to read drafts of this essay, as well as guest editors Ann Marie Plane and Clara Sue Kidwell. Lindsey Reed is to be commended for her patience. Thanks also go to the anonymous reviewers who made valuable editorial suggestions. The author would also like to thank the numerous Americans, Alaskans, and Hawaiians who have shared their anguish and their stories with him. Where possible individual contributions are cited in the notes.