On June 4, 2007, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of California, Berkeley announced the reorganization of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology. The new organization fits the standard model for repatriation activities for most museums across the nation, with the goal of integrating Native American perspectives more fully into museum programming and activities. This reorganization will increase the number of staff and amount of funding dedicated to NAGPRA and Native American programmatic activities. The Hearst Museum is in no way decreasing NAGPRA activities. It is, in fact, committed to increasing tribal visits, research assistance, and repatriation consultations. Please click here to see the full announcement (http://research.chance.berkeley.edu/page.cfm?id=205).

According the U.S. Dept. of the Interior’s Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act site, “the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act is a Federal law passed in 1990. NAGPRA provides a process for museums and Federal agencies to return certain Native American cultural items — human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, or objects of cultural patrimony — to lineal descendants, and culturally affiliated Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations. NAGPRA includes provisions for unclaimed and culturally unidentifiable Native American cultural items, intentional and inadvertent discovery of Native American cultural items on Federal and tribal lands, and penalties for noncompliance and illegal trafficking. In addition, NAGPRA authorizes Federal grants to Indian tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations, and museums to assist with the documentation and repatriation of Native American cultural items, and establishes the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review Committee to monitor the NAGPRA process and facilitate the resolution of disputes that may arise concerning repatriation under NAGPRA.”

The NAGPRA unit was initially created to help the Hearst Museum reach compliance with Federal NAGPRA legislation. Now that the Museum has accomplished that goal it will continue to meet its NAGPRA responsibilities as it also seeks to expand outreach programs and deepen tribal input into various museum activities. We know of no museum with a separate NAGPRA unit that does not also work within the rest of the museum structure, and we believe the Museum will more effectively serve Native American constituents if NAGPRA expertise and functions are better represented throughout all of its departments. This represents a “best practice” followed by other museums with Native American collections such as The Peabody Museum (http://www.yale.edu/peabody/), The Fowler Museum (http://www.fowler.ucla.edu/), the Penn Museum (http://www.museum.upenn.edu/new/exhibits/nagpra/museum), and the American Museum of Natural History (http://www.amnh.org/home/).

Tribes were not involved with the initial stage of the reorganization because this is a decision involving the management of a University entity that affects organizational reporting structures. No positions are being lost and no services are being decreased. The next phase of this change — which begins this summer — involves evaluating existing programs to increase services to Native American tribes, and it includes an extensive consultation process with tribes. We are extremely committed to working with Native American tribes to obtain the valuable feedback that will greatly shape the future of these programs.

Currently, the Museum does not have a program that consistently gathers feedback from tribes — an area that it is trying to improve upon. One of the main reasons for reorganizing and adding positions is to create a regular, documented exchange of ideas through surveys, visits on- and off-campus and more collaborative projects. During July and August 2007, Hearst staff is contacting tribes to engage them in initial discussions and to gather feedback.

No services have been reduced or eliminated. In fact, more will be added throughout museum departments in the coming months based on an increased budget and additional staff dedicated to this work.

As part of the reorganization, we are establishing two benchmarks for the following year. The first benchmark is to double the number of tribal visits to the Hearst Museum, as well as visits to tribal lands. The second benchmark is setting up mechanisms for sustained and regularized consultation with tribes, including better communication and user surveys.

• Continued service to tribes in making repatriation claims. This will include consultation, setting up visits to the Museum, providing information about relevant collections, and facilitating access to those collections. Our ultimate goal is to improve our level of service to you.
• Increased collaboration with you to obtain your advice and expertise in the treatment, curation, and exhibition of Hearst Museum collections. By facilitating tribal visits to campus, as well as visiting tribes off-campus, we will learn much from tribal elders and scholars about preferred methods of storing and handling museum objects that are sensitive to the cultural practices and concerns of specific Native American groups.
• Opportunities for increased exchange with Native American groups regarding the development of tribal museums and cultural centers. This may involve activities such as long-term loans of Hearst Museum artifacts or providing expertise on the conservation of objects, depending upon what you need.
• The creation, design, and implementation of a new Native American internship program that can provide training in all aspects of museum work.
• An increase in the amount of information accessible to you about museum collections through enhanced research tools, an improved database, and website design.

None. One temporary position ended June 30, 2007 as was planned when the position was created.

Once current openings are filled, the Hearst Museum will have seven staff positions with repatriation-related activities as a top priority in their job responsibilities. This includes a full-time Repatriation Coordinator, North American Collections Manager, Tribal Outreach Coordinator, Native American Education Specialist, North American Ethnographer, and North American Archaeologist, as well as a temporary Database Analyst. The reorganization will also give us the flexibility to assign additional staff members to help with repatriation claims as needed, or to partner with tribes in new ways.