The right of all people to study the prehistory of North America has not been supported by recent legislation.
The ability of persons from America’s Universities, Museums, and Historical Societies to study specimens has been severely limited, and in some cases eliminated. Scientists, historians, and other researchers can no longer access many specimen types, thus making factual studies and findings impossible.
Letters by such lofty institutions as the Smithsonian are posted on the Friends of America’s Past website, at www.friendsofpast.org. This is just a partial list of some information provided by that site:
- Letter from the American Association of Museums of May 13, 2010 [posted 6/8/10]
- Letter from two Smithsonian Directors: National Museum of American Indian and the National Musuem of Natural History of May 14, 2010 [posted 5/27/10]
- Letter from 41 members of the National Academy of Sciences of May 17, 2010 [posted 5/27/10]
- Ohio Historical Society Letter of May 13, 2010 [posted 5/18/10]
- Illinois State Museum Letter of May 14, 2010 [posted 5/27/10].
- Testimony of the Society for American Archaeology to House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources of October 7, 2009
- Caring for the dead: Finding a common ground in disputes over Museum Collections of human remains (with permission by the author, Phillip Walker) [posted 5/27/10]
- Altered Meanings: The Department of the Interior’s Rewriting of NAGPRA to Regulate Culturally Unidentifiable Human Remains. Conclusion. (with permission by the author, Ryan Seidemann) [posted 5/27/10]
The above information is directly related to Department of the Interior’s position,which ignores all scientific and scholarly historic interests. The letters listed above posted on the website of a science advocacy group, Friends of Americas Past, www.friendsofpast.org.