The first inhabitants of Santa Barbara were the Chumash, a Native American tribe known for their canoes, shell money, beads, and fine basketry. But you won’t see many of those artifacts at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. In January of this year, new regulations were added to the federal human rights law, NAGPRA, requiring museums to return Native American remains, funerary objects, and other sacred pieces to the tribes of origin.
"For too long, it was the museums that told the story of indigenous peoples and now we can let them to lead the way," said NAGPRA officer Jonathan Malindine.
Malindine explains that for the past two decades, these displays were filled with Chumash artifacts curated in collaboration with the tribes. The new regulations require another level of explicit consent for cultural items.
"To incorporate tribal knowledge to identify what exactly is sacred, ceremonial, funerary," Malindine explained.
Volunteer Pat Ackmann works with artifact replicas, educating kids on early Chumash life, and thinks these regulations are a good thing.
"They need to have a word about if they are in the museum at all or how they are displayed," Ackmann said.
President and CEO of the Museum of Natural History Luke Swetland says the museum has thousands of items that are not sensitive but still have historical value to viewers.
"We can tell powerful stories about Chumash culture past, present, and future, without having to display anything sensitive," Swetland said.
For now, the Chumash Life exhibit is temporarily closed while the museum works with the Santa Ynez Chumash tribe who provided this statement:
“Our tribe is encouraged by the recent movement we’ve seen as a result of these new NAGPRA rules, and we hope it continues. We have dedicated, knowledgeable members of our community who have worked closely with universities on past repatriation efforts, and they’re looking forward to consulting with museums on their exhibits going forward.” – Kenneth Kahn, Tribal Chairman for the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians.
The museum hopes to reopen the exhibit in the next year and a half.
"And we will reopen these exhibits in collaboration with the tribes," Malindine said.
