NEW YORK — The American Museum of Natural History in New York will close two galleries of Native American objects starting Saturday, recognizing that the exhibits are “severely outdated” and contain culturally sensitive items.
The massive complex across from Central Park on Manhattan’s Upper West Side is the latest U.S. institution to cover up or remove Native American exhibits to comply with newly updated federal regulations regarding the display of Native human remains and cultural artifacts.
The museum said in October it would remove all human remains from public display, with the goal of eventually repatriating as many as possible to Native American tribes and other rightful owners.
Sean Decatur, the museum’s president, said in a letter to staff on Friday that the latest move reflects the “growing urgency” of museums to change their relationships with tribes and the way they showcase indigenous cultures.
“The galleries we are closing are relics of an era when museums like ours failed to respect the values, perspectives, and even shared humanity of Indigenous peoples,” he wrote. “Actions that may seem sudden to some may seem long overdue to others.”
Earlier this month, Chicago’s Field Museum covered several displays of Native American artifacts. Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology said it would remove all Native American burial objects from its exhibits. The Cleveland Museum of Art is another institution that has taken similar steps.
Shannon O’Loughlin, head of the Association on American Indian Affairs, a national group that has long called on museums to meet federal requirements, welcomed such developments but said the real test is what ultimately becomes of the removed items.
“Covering displays or removing things is not the goal,” she said. “It’s about repatriation – returning objects to tribes. So this is just part of a much larger process.”
Todd Mesek, a spokesman for the Cleveland Museum of Art, said the institution is consulting with Native American groups to obtain their permission to display certain items and to review archival records to determine if any agreement already exists.
Jason Newton, a Harvard spokesman, said the Peabody is committed to returning all ancestral remains and burial objects and has more than doubled the number of staff members working on that effort in recent months. The museum also announced this month that it would cover the costs of tribal members traveling to campus as part of the repatriation process.
The revised regulations released by the U.S. Department of the Interior in December address the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990. The changes include expanded requirements for consulting with and obtaining permission from tribes to display native artifacts and research, including human remains and funerary, sacred and cultural objects.
Native American groups have long complained that museums, colleges and other institutions have delayed the process of returning hundreds of thousands of culturally important objects.
“The only exception to repatriation is if a museum or institution can prove that they received permission at the time the item was taken,” O’Loughlin said. “But of course most institutions cannot do that, because these items and bodies are usually taken through violence, theft and looting.”
Decatur said in the letter that rather than simply cover or remove items in the Eastern Woodlands and Great Plains Halls, which are closing this weekend, the decision was made to close them completely because they are “severely outdated.”
Meanwhile, some displays elsewhere in the museum, including those featuring native Hawaiian artifacts, will be on display, he added.
Decatur acknowledged that one consequence of the closures will be the suspension of visits to them by school trips. Eastern Woodlands Hall in particular has been a mainstay for students from the New York area learning about Native American life in the Northeast.
The museum remains committed to supporting the education of indigenous cultures, Decatur said, and officials are reviewing the new federal regulations to understand their implications.
O’Loughlin of the Association on American Indian Affairs said there isn’t as much gray area as museum officials would suggest.
“The new regulations make it crystal clear,” she said. “It does not prohibit research. It does not prohibit the display of indigenous cultural heritage. Only prior and informed consent is required before doing so.”
___
Associated Press writer Michael Casey in Boston contributed to this story.
___
Follow Philip Marcelo on twitter.com/philmarcelo.