# Repatriation and Returns # Our Commitment Welcome to Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities around the world as well as others seeking to learn more about repatriations and returns at the Peabody Museum. We acknowledge the colonial and imperial past that led you to this portion of our website and emphasize our commitment to ethical stewardship and the return of ancestors and cultural heritage. We hope that here you will find resources and contact information to begin consultation for repatriations through NAGPRA, domestic returns beyond NAGPRA, and international returns. We invite you to learn more about the repatriation and returns efforts at the Peabody and to find out how to start a repatriation consultation. [### Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act ](/native-american-graves-protection-and-repatriation) ![Small red and white hand woven basket against a black background](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/basket_image_card.jpg?itok=8fjUJ2Lu) [### International and Domestic Returns Beyond NAGPRA ](/international-and-domestic-returns) ![Gitxaała elders in red and black patterned cloaks wait at the end of a dock to welcome the return of a sacred pole](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/gitxaala_pole_return_elders_2.jpg?itok=95vXOmlc) ### Ancient Greenlandic Ancestral Remains In May 2024, repatriation of Inuit remains from a Thule culture grave site on the island of Uunartoq in South Greenland to Nunatta Katersugaasivia Allagaateqarfialu ([Greenland National Museum & Archives](https://nka.gl/)) was completed. Led by Nunatta Katersugaasivia Allagaateqarfialu, a new interdisciplinary project, Angerlartunnguit – The Reborn: Research, Reunification, and Restoration of the Uunartoq Thule Inuit, is now underway to build upon collaborative relationships developed between NKA, Greenlandic communities, and institutions in Europe and the United States, to further knowledge about the life, death and legacy of the precolonial Uunartoq Thule Inuit and to highlight the importance of critical and reflective heritage studies. ![hunter green background](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-02/light%20green%20tile.jpg?itok=P1D7B8T0) ### Gitxaała Sacred Totem Pole The [Gitxaała Nation](https://gitxaalanation.com/) from British Columbia, Canada, contacted the Peabody as part of their research project on belongings in museums across the world. The Peabody cared for a sacred totem pole that had been removed from the community under coercion in 1897 during the Potlatch Ban when many cultural practices were illegal. The museum repatriated the pole in March 2023, as described in an [online exhibition](https://gitxaalamuseum.com/journeyhome) at the Gitxaała Nation Virtual Museum and the [HMSC Connects! Podcast, The Journey Home: Repatriating the Gitxaała Totem Pole](https://hmsc.harvard.edu/2023/08/30/the-journey-home-repatriating-the-gitxaala-totem-pole/). ![Gitxaala pole return elders ](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-04/gitxaala_pole_return_elders_2.jpg?itok=KfyuD7rz) ### Alutiiq Warrior-Whaler Kayak In 2003 the museum began a joint project with members of the Alutiiq community on [a rare warrior-whaler kayak](https://alutiiqmuseum.org/explore/past-exhibits/1307-qayat-kayaks%20)). It developed into a [20-year education and research partnership](/conservation-community-partnerships "Featured Analytical Work"). The kayak went on exhibit at the [Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository](https://alutiiqmuseum.org/) in Kodiak, Alaska, in 2016 and was formally repatriated to the community-owned museum in January 2023. For more on this repatriation, please see their museum's [press release](https://alutiiqmuseum.org/press-releases/1844-harvard-university-transfers-historic-kayak-to-alutiiq-museum-january-24-2023). ![Alutiiq kayak in its exhibition in Alaska](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/peabody/files/qayak_card.jpg?itok=7GQYL6Fp) ### Standing Bear Pipe Tomahawk In June 2022 the museum welcomed a delegation from the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma for the return of Chief Standing Bear’s Pipe Tomahawk. In 1879 [Chief Standing Bear](https://www.nps.gov/mnrr/learn/historyculture/standingbear.htm) won a [landmark civil rights case](https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2019/11/chief-standing-bear-and-his-landmark-civil-rights-case/) that established for the first time that he – and by extension other Native Americans – was a *person* “within the meaning of the laws of the United States.” Further information can be found in this [press release](https://www.poncatribe-ne.org/standing-bears-pipe-tomahawk-returned-to-the-ponca-tribe/) issued by the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. ![Delegation of Ponca tribal members and elders seated with Peabody staff during signatory ceremony](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/peabody/files/ponca_story_card.jpg?itok=lx_A3r7Q) ### Woodbury Collection The Peabody Museum at Harvard stewards a collection of hair clippings from Indigenous people around the world assembled by anthropologist George Edward Woodbury in the 1930s and donated to the Museum in 1935. The vast majority are from North America, including clippings of hair from approximately 700 Native American children attending U.S. Indian Boarding Schools and approximately 100 Canadian First Nations and Inuit individuals from hospital contexts. Many of those clippings are associated with named individuals. To support the return of hair clippings, this website makes available information on this collection, which includes the Tribal affiliations of Native American individuals in the United States and Canadian First Nations and Inuit individuals whose hair was taken, as well as the sites of collection, including boarding schools, reservations, hospitals, and museums. **The Peabody Museum is fully committed to the return of hair back to families and Native Nations.** [ Woodbury Collection arrow\_circle\_right ](/woodbury-collection) ### Frequently Asked Questions Peabody Museum staff have compiled a list of frequently asked questions regarding repatriation and returns. If you do not see your question answered, please contact us at . [ See all questions arrow\_circle\_right ](/repatandreturns-allfaqs)