Petition
To: Doug Bertgum, Secretary of the Interior
We, the undersigned, respectfully request that all government-funded museums and Universities be required to provide full public disclosure of all artifacts and human remains in their possession, both past and present.
Since 1990, Federal law has provided for the protection and return of Native American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony. By enacting NAGPRA, Congress recognized that human remains of any ancestry “must at all times be treated with dignity and respect.”
As taxpayers fund these institutions, we believe the public has a right to:
1. A comprehensive catalog of all artifacts and human remains stored in archives or private collections.
2. Open access to scientific studies, historical records, as well as excavation reports, ensuring that information is presented without censorship, bias, or selective omission.
3. Independent review boards to ensure compliance with transparency requirements and prevent the suppression of historical discoveries, while ensuring that information is presented without censorship.
Museums serve as guardians of history and culture, so their collections should be fully accessible to the people who fund them. We urge the U.S. government to implement legislation ensuring that taxpayer-funded institutions remain fully transparent in their stewardship of our shared history.
Signed,
Dr. L.A. Marzulli
Fritz Zimmerman
Heather Coons
