National Museum of the American Indian Act

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The National Museum of the American Indian Act (NMAI Act) was signed into law on November 28, 1989 (Public Law 101-185). It created the National Museum of the American Indian as part of the Smithsonian Institution and authorized a new museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to house Native American artifacts from the Heye Foundation. It also established the George Gustav Heye Center in New York City at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House as part of a related compromise.

A key purpose of the act is repatriation. The Smithsonian must inventory Indian and Native Hawaiian human remains and funerary objects in its collections and return them upon request by a descendant or a culturally affiliated Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization. These items are mainly housed in the National Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of the American Indian, and the National Museum of American History.

In 1996, the act was amended to include additional categories from the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and to set deadlines for completing the inventory and related tasks.

Progress and challenges: The Smithsonian has identified thousands of remains and has repatriated many, but the process has been slow at times. By 1996, the National Museum of the American Indian had identified 524 remains and repatriated 227. By 2007, the Smithsonian identified 18,568 remains and offered repatriation for 5,435 of them (about 29%). A 2011 Government Accountability Office (GAO) study found that, at the current pace, full repatriation could take many more decades and recommended ways to speed up decisions and improve oversight.