October 15, 2023 – 11:00 pm
The American Museum of Natural History is removing all human remains from its collection as part of a review of its collection practices, according to the British Daily Mail. From the Guardian article.
Some of the 12,000 human remains in the museum’s possession come from indigenous graves and the skeletons of slaves, but they also include the bodies of New Yorkers collected in the 1940s. Museum director Sean Decatur wrote in a letter explaining the background of the decision to his colleagues that collecting human remains was made possible by superpowers.
He added that many researchers in the 19th and 20th centuries used the groups to prove their deeply false scientific theories about white supremacy by identifying physical differences. Through these, they attempted to reinforce models of racial hierarchy. It can also be read in Decatur’s letter that none of the objects in question are so essential to the aims and narrative of the exhibition as to be able to offset the moral dilemmas that arise. This is due to the fact that in some cases human remains were displayed alongside objects found in the same environment.
The largest nature collection in the United States decided to reconsider after several medical and anthropological institutions were forced to take a similar step, including the Mütter Museum, Harvard University’s Peabody Museum, and the Pennsylvania Museum, also in Philadelphia, which apologized to black and brown people. Aboriginal Morton Skull Collection of skulls.
According to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which has been in effect in the United States for thirty years, specialized groups are obligated to return these remains, but they often face obstacles during accurate identification, which greatly slows down the process. In light of this, it is not surprising that the Museum of Natural Sciences has already returned about a thousand Indian remains, but is holding on to another 2,200.
