Abstract for CRMIR 2008
PAST POISONS & PRESENT PERILS: PARTNERING TO ADDRESS
THE CONTAMINATED NAGPRA COLLECTIONS ISSUE
1. Oral panel discussion with an accompanying poster presentation and
demonstration.
2. No special needs.
3. ABSTRACT
PAST POISONS & PRESENT PERILS: PARTNERING TO ADDRESS
THE CONTAMINATED NAGPRA COLLECTIONS ISSUE
BENDER, BRYNN 1, Christine Landrum 2, Theresa Pasqual 3, Leigh
Kuwanwisiwma* 4
1 National Park Service, Museum Services Program, 225 N. Commerce Park Loop
Road, Tucson, AZ 85745; brynn_bender@nps.gov
2 National Park Service, Office of Indian Affairs and American Culture, 12795 West
Alameda Parkway, Lakewood, CO 80228; christine_landrum@nps.gov
3 Pueblo of Acoma Historic Preservation Office, P.O.Box 309, Pueblo of Acoma,
New Mexico 87034; tpasqual@puebloofacoma.org
4 Hopi Tribe Cultural Preservation Office, P.O. Box 123, Kykotsmovi, AZ 86039;
LKuwanwisiwma@hopi.nsn.us
*participation not yet confirmed.
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) of 1990
provides a process for museums and Federal agencies to return Native American
human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony,
to lineal descendants, culturally affiliated Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian
organizations. NAGPRA highlighted one particular problem for Native communities
that museum professionals were already aware of – many museum collection items
are contaminated with organic and inorganic pesticides due to pest management
practices by private collectors, universities, museums, and Federal agencies.
Museum professionals employ safe handling techniques in the context of collections
management activities to avoid the harmful effects of exposure to pest management
poisons. However, these chemical contaminants pose unique and potentially
hazardous threats to tribal communities receiving cultural items subject to NAGPRA
through repatriation as the objects are reintroduced into use. NAGPRA offers limited
guidance regarding the legal and ethical issues surrounding contaminated
collections. The complexity of the problem is compounded by a lack of scientific
data collected in the context of cultural use for specific items, and by the sensitivities
surrounding the cultural significance of these items. Given the prolific past practice
of using chemical pesticides for preservation purposes, it is clear that the repatriation
and reuse of some repatriated cultural items is a health, life, and safety crisis of
national as well as international proportions affecting some of the most at-risk
populations of the world. The National Park Service, Intermountain Region,
NAGPRA and Museum Services Programs are collaborating with a core working
group of tribes and pueblos in the Southwest to actively address the contaminated
collections issue through culturally informed scientific methods. The panel will be
comprised of tribal representatives, a conservator, and a cultural anthropologist to
provide conference participants with an overview of the contaminated collections
issue from multiple cogent perspectives.