New York’s American Museum of Natural History and other US museums are to close or adapt any exhibits featuring Native American objects or remains.

The move is a response to new regulations from the Biden administration, which went into effect on 12 January and require museums to consult and obtain informed consent from descendants or tribes before displaying or researching human remains or cultural items.

The newly revised regulations surround the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Under this act, museums are already obliged to return Indigenous remains.

The new regulations were announced by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland last month. She described NAGPRA as “an essential tool for the safe return of sacred objects to the communities from which they were stolen”.

The American Museum of Natural History closed two halls that featured Native American objects on 27 January. These are the Eastern Woodlands and Great Plains halls.

“The number of cultural objects on display in these halls is significant, and because these exhibits are also severely outdated, we have decided that rather than just covering or removing specific items, we will close the halls,” Sean Decatur, president of the museum, told staff in a letter obtained by CNN.

“These exhibits are severely outdated”

Decatur said the halls and exhibits are “vestiges of an era when museums such as ours did not respect the values, perspectives, and indeed shared humanity of Indigenous peoples”.

Decatur added, “While the actions we are taking this week may seem sudden, they reflect a growing urgency among all museums to change their relationships to, and representation of, Indigenous cultures.”

Elsewhere, the Field Museum in Chicago has covered some cases showcasing objects from Indigenous communities in the US. Some display cases at the Cleveland Museum of Art have also been covered.

Images courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History