In the Smaller Scope of Conscience: The Struggle for National Repatriation Legislation, 1986–1990

290 Pages·2013·2.174 MB·English

by  C. Timothy McKeown

in the smaller scope
of conscience

In the Smaller Scope
of Conscience
The Struggle for National
Repatriation Legislation,
1986–1990
c. timothy mckeown
© 2012 The Arizona Board of Regents
All rights reserved
www.uapress.arizona.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McKeown, C. Timothy, 1955–
In the smaller scope of conscience : the struggle for national repatriation legislation,
1986–1990 / C. Timothy McKeown.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8165-2687-1 (hardback)
1. Human remains (Archaeology)—Repatriation—Law and legislation—United
States. 2. United States. Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation
Act. I. Title.
KF8210.A57M38 2013
344.73'09—dc23 2012017149
Publication of this book is made possible in part by the proceeds of a permanent endow-
ment created with the assistance of a Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for
the Humanities, a federal agency.
Manufactured in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper
containing a minimum of 30% postconsumer waste and processed chlorine free.
17 16 15 14 13 12 6 5 4 3 2 1
For decades, the skeletal remains of American Indians were
removed from their burial sites, studied, catalogued, and relegated
to the bins of museums and science. This legislation is about re-
specting the rights of the dead, the right to an undisturbed resting-
place. It is a good bill, and long overdue. What we are saying to
American Indians today, Mr. Speaker, is simply that your ances-
tors and their burial grounds are sacred, and will remain so.
In the larger scope of history, this is a very small thing.
In the smaller scope of conscience, it may be the biggest
thing we have ever done.
Representative Morris Udall
October 22, 1990

Contents
Illustrations ix
Prologue xi
1. Tallbull’s Quest 1
2. The Green Boxes 28
3. The Political Dynamics of Public Awareness 42
4. The Way of the Coyote 56
5. Two Practices, No Policy 79
6. A Defining Moment 113
7. The Biggest Thing We Have Ever Done 139
8. Legislative History in Interpretive Context 173
Notes 213
Index 261

Illustrations
1.1. Green cabinets in the Smithsonian Institution 2
1.2. Tall Bull’s pipe stem 3
1.3. William Tallbull accepting tape duplicates of Cheyenne wax
cylinder recordings and other materials from Senator John Melcher
of Montana 5
1.4. Graphic accompanying article in the Washington Post 11
1.5. Members of the Blackfeet tribe of Montana pass a pipe as part
of a ceremony marking repatriation of the remains of their
ancestors 20
2.1. Hy Rosen, American Indian Museum Must Move to Museum of
Natural History 34
4.1. Smithsonian Secretary Robert Adams signs a Memorandum of
Understanding transferring the collection of the Museum of the
American Indian to the Smithsonian Institution 58
5.1. Notes from the No-Name Alliance meeting of February 27,
1990 90
6.1. Representative Morris K. Udall 114
6.2. Richard Thompson, Somebody’s Great Great Grandpappy 121
6.3. Repatriation of the Hayehwatha belt from the New York State
Museum to the Onondaga Nation 127
6.4. Native Hawaiian representatives in Washington, DC, to attend the
House hearing on H.R. 5237 130
ix