The Native Arts team and administration of the Denver Art Museum (DAM) have anticipated the new NAGPRA guidelines, which went into effect on January 12, since they were initially proposed. In preparation, members of our staff participated in a recent training conference and webinar on the revised law and new regulations through the Association on American Indian Affairs and National NAPGRA program. These new regulations require tribal consultation and approval from the affiliated Native communities before an institution can display human remains, associated funerary objects, unassociated funerary objects, objects of cultural patrimony and sacred objects (collectively called “cultural items” in the new regulations). The national NAPGRA program issued recommendations to museums on how to maintain compliance, which our staff has carefully reviewed. While we are continuing to do research, speak with our colleagues, and reach out to NAGPRA advisors and Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs), we have no specific concerns regarding the current displays of items in the DAM’s galleries.
The Denver Art Museum has been in compliance with NAGPRA since its launch and the team is committed to ensuring the museum remains in compliance. While we are confident in our internal processes, on January 12th, out of an abundance of caution, museum staff removed a case with Mississippian/Caddoan ceramics from view. More than 30 Indigenous tribes claim descent from these cultures, and while all descendant communities were notified of these holdings when we completed our original NAGPRA inventories, not all chose to conduct consultations. While the museum doesn’t believe that displaying these items puts its galleries out of compliance with new NAGPRA guidelines, we are reaching out to these communities to give them another opportunity to voice any concerns before displaying these items again.
As always, now and into the future, we will honor any additional display changes requested. The DAM has a long history of working closely with Indigenous communities and their leaders in its ongoing work collecting, conserving, and presenting important artworks by Native artists. Additionally, our actions have long been guided by an internal Policy on Collections Use and Repatriation of Culturally Sensitive Materials, written in collaboration with Walter Echo-Hawk (Pawnee) and Jhon Goes in Center (Oglala Lakota), and formally adopted by DAM’s board, in 1994. We support the spirit of the new regulations and the ongoing efforts of NAGPRA, which afford us a wonderful opportunity to connect and be in dialogue with Native communities. To this end, we continue to respect the wishes of Native community members as we work to incorporate the new NAGPRA requirements into our ongoing work.