Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act

I. Purpose

The purpose of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act to facilitate the return of Native American and Native Hawaiian human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony to lineal descendants or organizations from museums.

II. History

First enacted into law in 1990, NAGPRA rules were updated in January 2024. It is administered by the National Park Service and impacts the federal government, museums, and universities.

III. Applicability to BYU–Hawaii

At the time of this memo, BYU–Hawaii does not have any museums. We also checked with various departments and researchers to confirm that we do not own nor have in our possession any Native Hawaiian artifacts that would be considered human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony.

IV Requirements

If we did we would need to work with the appropriate native Hawaiian organization to return the artifact or gain free and prior and informed consent to put the artifact on display.