Sacred Objects Returned to Yurok Tribe

More than 200 sacred objects that were in the possession of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian were returned last week to the Yurok Tribe in northern California, as reported in an Associated Press piece published by the Times Leader on Aug. 15.

The collection of items, which includes white deerskins, condor feathers and head dresses of woodpecker scalps, is one of the largest to be repatriated by the museum. Ranging from hundreds to maybe even thousands of years old, the objects were once part of the collection of George Gustav Heye, though the tribe does not know how he obtained them.

“It’s part of the fabric of who we are and why we are,” Javier Kinney, who helped transport the items from the Smithsonian’s facility in Suitland-Silver Hill, Md., told the AP.

The tribe, which has about 5,500 members, plans to use some of the objects in ceremonies, but some will be displayed in its cultural center.

To learn more about the law that requires museums and government agencies to repatriate Native American objects and remains, read Key Federal Agencies Not Fully Complying with NAGPRA, published on AIR on Aug. 6, 2010.

Chickasaw Nation Opens Cultural Center

After six years of construction, the Chickasaw Cultural Center is finished and welcoming visitors, an Associated Press article reported today.

The facility, located in Sulphur, Okla., cost the Chickasaw Nation $40 million, and it was paid for with tribal gaming revenues. The grand opening was held on July 24.

The center, the AP reported, “traces the tribe's life from its ancestral homelands in what is now the southeastern United States, then along the Trail of Tears, then to its emergence in recent years as one of Oklahoma's most prominent American Indian tribes.”

Occupying a 109-acre site, it features a 350-seat theater with a 2,400-square-foot screen, an exhibit center and a replica of a traditional Chickasaw village. There is also a cafe serving traditional Chickasaw cuisine; a garden, where the tribe's hall of fame is honored; and a research center.

Construction of Okla. City Indian Cultural Center Could Be Delayed

Construction of the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum in downtown Oklahoma City could be delayed because lawmakers failed to approve a key funding measure — a $43 million bond package — before the legislative session ended, according to a piece published on NewsOn6.com on June 2.

State Sen. Harry Coates said that there is enough funding to continue construction for a few months, but, after that, work could come to a halt.

The $170 million center, which will occupy more than 250 acres near the Oklahoma River and Interstate 35, was scheduled to be finished in 2014.

Kaibab Paiutes and Pipe Spring National Monument Jointly Open Repository

The Kaibab Band of Paiutes and Pipe Spring National Monument have jointly opened a museum repository containing artifacts and archival material of early Mormon settlers and of the tribe, as reported by the Associated Press on May 25. The $2 million facility, 11 years in the planning, is located near Fredonia in northwestern Arizona.

The tribe and monument have shared museum space at the park's visitor center, but now they have a separate repository to preserve materials. Under their 25-year partnership, the monument agreed to provide the building and the tribe the land.

The project is the first time the National Park Service has joined in this kind of collaboration with a tribe.

Seminole Museum Earns Coveted National Accreditation

It took about five years plus a whole lot of introspection and some big changes, but the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum has received its national accreditation from the American Association of Museums.

Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki, with its main branch located on the tribe’s Big Cypress Reservation and a smaller facility in Okalee, became the first tribally operated museum to earn accreditation this spring. The National Museum of the American Indian, operated by the Smithsonian Institute, was accredited this spring as well.

The main facility, which opened in 1997, is the steward of more than 11,000 artifacts and archives that the tribe started collecting more than 20 years. The campus, visited by people from all over the world, is made up of three buildings, totaling over 5,000 square feet of space, and includes four galleries. Read more in American Indian Report.

Museum Honors Native Americans in Baseball

A half century before Jackie Robinson officially integrated Major League baseball in 1947, Louis Sockalexis of the Penobscot Nation quietly slipped onto the roster of the Cleveland Spiders. Though his presence in the major leagues did not receive the same attention as that of Robinson’s celebrated stint with the Brooklyn Dodgers, it may be said that Sockalexis and many other Native Americans who have played in the major leagues since the turn of the 20th Century, were trailblazers for Robinson and other African-Americans to break through later on. Their story is the centerpiece of an exhibit at the Iroquois Indian Museum in Howes Cave, N.Y. Read more about it here.