American Museum of Natural History is set to WALL OFF Native relics exhibit halls over new rules requiring tribes to give permission for displays: Indigenous leader slams bosses for not trying to 'reconcile'

New York's American Museum of Natural History intends to wall off its former Native American relics exhibit halls after announcing their closure due to a new federal law. 

The museum, which draws 4.5 million visitors a year, will close displays dedicated to the Eastern Woodlands and the Great Plains tribes this weekend to comply with new federal regulations that require consent from native tribes to display their cultural items and artifacts. 

The Biden administration introduced the new regulations under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) in order to speed up the process of repatriating Native American remains, funerary objects and other sacred items. 

To cover up two of its major exhibitions, the museum placed paper sheets all over the display windows and is set to wall off the area, according to the New York Post. 

A sign that reads: 'The artifacts in this case have been removed from view because the Museum does not have consent to display them,' has also been placed near the exhibits. 

The museum has now placed paper sheets over the Native American relic displays and a wall will be placed at the entrance to restrict the public  

The museum, which draws 4.5 million visitors a year, will close displays dedicated to the Eastern Woodlands and the Great Plains tribes this weekend

 The closures will leave nearly 10,000 square feet of exhibition space off-limits to visitors

The museum plans to cover a number of other display cases featuring Native American cultural items as it reviews its large catalog to assess what is in compliance with the new federal rules, which took effect earlier this month. 

After the announcement, a tribal leader said that the shut down could have been avoided if the institution had attempted to 'reconcile and work with tribes'.

Sunshine Bear-Thomas, the tribal historic preservation officer for the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska told the Post: 'These big institutions that are shutting down this many square feet could have taken preemptive steps to try to reconcile and work with tribes — and it took a change in NAGPRA regulations to take them down.

'It should always be up to the tribe what they want to do as sovereign nations.'

Thomas added that she was not aware if any Winnebago artifacts were at the Museum and 'wanted to bring our items home' wherever they may be. 

After the announcement, a tribal leader said that the shut down could have been avoided if the institution had attempted to 'reconcile and work with tribes'

The exhibit features were first removed from their assigned settings as new federal rules were announced 

Thomas added that she was not aware if any Winnebago artifacts were at the Museum and 'wanted to bring our items home' wherever they may be

The museum plans to cover a number of other display cases featuring Native American cultural items as it reviews its large catalog to assess what is in compliance with the new federal rules, which took effect earlier this month

Parts of the collection once used to teach students about the Iroquois, Mohegans, Cheyenne, Arapaho and other groups will also now be temporarily inaccessible. 

The closures will leave nearly 10,000 square feet of exhibition space off-limits to visitors. 

The museum has repatriated the remains of approximately 1,000 individuals to tribal groups over the last thirty years but still holds the remains of about 2,200 Native Americans and thousands of funerary objects.

'The halls we are closing are artifacts of an era when museums such as ours did not respect the values, perspectives and indeed shared humanity of Indigenous peoples,' Sean Decatur, the museum's president, wrote in a letter to the museum's staff on Friday morning.

'Actions that may feel sudden to some may seem long overdue to others' he explained. 

The process began with the passage of NAGPRA in 1990 during the presidency of George H.W. Bush, but progress stalled for decades leading to heavy criticism from tribal representatives. 

The government has now given institutions until 2029 to prepare human remains and their burial belongings for repatriation. 

Parts of the collection once used to teach students about the Iroquois, Mohegans, Cheyenne, Arapaho and other groups will also be temporarily inaccessible

The government has now given institutions until 2029 to prepare human remains and their burial belongings for repatriation

The Biden administration introduced the new regulations under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) in order to speed up the process of repatriating Native American remains, funerary objects and other sacred items

The American Museum of Natural History has made strides in recent years in attempting to confront its relationship with different ethnic groups and how they are represented. 

In 2020 the bronze statue of Theodore Roosevelt was removed from its plinth outside the museum's façade.

The statue showed the former president on horseback and flanked by a Native American man and an African man.

Activists have long drawn attention to the monuments symbolism of colonial expansion and racial discrimination since its erection in 1940.

In the wake of the racial justice protests triggered by the murder of George Floyd in 2020 the statue was finally removed.