Cornell University returns ancestral remains to Oneida Indian Nation

VERONA, N.Y. — Cornell University recently returned to the Oneida Indian Nation ancestral remains and possessions that had been kept in a university archive for six decades.

“Today, we’re marking an event that is both long overdue and never should have become necessary,” Cornell President Martha E. Pollack said during a ceremony Feb. 21 at the university’s Sage Chapel. “We’re returning ancestral remains and possessions that we now recognize never should have been taken, never should have come to Cornell, and never should have been kept here.”

The remains were unearthed in 1964 when property owners dug a ditch for a new water line on their farm near Windsor. Law enforcement brought the remains to Cornell anthropology professor Kenneth A.R. Kennedy, who carried out forensic identification for age and sex. The remains were then stored in a campus archive until after the professor’s death, when they were discovered during an archival inventory.

“The return of our ancestors to our sacred homelands is a basic human right,” Oneida Indian Nation Representative Ray Halbritter said. “We commend Cornell University for working with the Oneida Indian Nation to right this wrong. The repatriation of our ancestors’ remains enables us to honor their lives and honor the ways that our people have lived since time immemorial.”

Halbritter said the individuals will be laid to rest in the tradition of their people. Funerary objects that were interred with the ancestors will also be restored to the Oneida Indian Nation.

At the end of the ceremony, Pollack and Halbritter each signed transfer documents. The event included traditional Oneida ceremonial words delivered by Dean Lyons, an Oneida Indian Nation Turtle Clan member.

Since 1990, the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act has provided a formal process for institutions to repatriate cultural items or ancestral remains to either lineal descendants or tribes.

Last November, Colgate University repatriated more than 1,500 funerary objects and cultural artifacts to the Oneida Indian Nation.