Office of the Secretary

For Release: July 18, 1997

Contact: John Wright 202/208-6416

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt announced the appointment of five private citizens as members of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review Committee. Appointments to the committee were selected from nominations the Secretary received from Indian tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations, and national museum and scientific organizations.

“The issues before this very talented committee are challenging and complex,” Babbitt noted. “I look forward to their recommendations as we work to develop a process for disposition of culturally unidentifiable Native American human remains.”

Two original members were reappointed for three year terms to ensure the committee’s continuity:

Dr. Tessie Naranjo is a tribal member of Santa Clara Pueblo in New Mexico, where she has lived most of her life. She is a founding board member of the Keepers of the Treasures, a native cultural council dedicated to the preservation, celebration, and enhancement of Native American cultural heritage. She served as committee chair since 1993.

Dr. Martin Sullivan is director of the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1995, he was appointed by President Clinton to a four-year term as chair of the President’s Advisory Committee on Cultural Property which advises the State Department and the Customs Service in implementation of the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Property. He is also a founding trustee of the American Indian Ritual Object Repatriation Foundation.

Three new members were appointed for six year terms:

Dr. James Bradley is director of the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He is an archeologist and historian, with special interests in native peoples of the Northeast and in Native American metallurgy. He serves on the Committee on Repatriation of the Society for American Archaeology.

Mr. Armand Minthorn serves on the board of trustees of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. He helped establish Tamustilik (the Umatilla Tribal Cultural

Center) and the Umatilla Cultural Resource Protection Program. He serves as the

northwest area representative to the Commission on Repatriation and Burial Sites Protection of the National Congress of American Indians. He is a traditional religious leader of the Umatilla Longhouse.

Dr. John O’Shea is curator of Great Lakes Archaeology and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology. He has studied issues of archeological site complexity and variation in both the United States and Europe, with special emphasis on funerarypractices.

The seven member committee -- including Mr. Lawrence Hart, a Southern Cheyenne traditional religious leader appointed in 1996, and a yet to be named seventh member to be appointed by the Secretary from a list prepared by the current six members -- is charged with monitoring, reviewing, and assisting in implementation of certain requirements of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

The Act requires that federal agencies and museums that receive federal funds provide information about Native American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony in their collections to lineal descendants, Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations and repatriate those items in certain circumstances. The law also provides additional protection for Native American graves on federal or tribal lands.

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