The federal government is investigating a possible violation by St. Joseph Museums Inc. of a law protecting American Indian remains, an attorney has told the group.
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The Department of the Interior is investigating whether Museums Inc. violated the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act when it accepted a donation of artifacts in 2002, the lawyer, John Burns, said Wednesday.
The law requires museums that receive federal money to provide a procedure to return cultural items to American Indian descendants.
The collection contains about 36,000 American Indian items collected by the late J. Mett Shippee. His relatives donated the collection to Museums Inc. The board and its director at the time, Alberto Meloni, were in the process of adopting a resolution to comply with the federal law in October 2002 when it was decided that the collection should be returned to the family.
That meant the collection was owned by a private entity, which is exempt from the federal law. The Shippee family then lent Museums Inc. the artifacts on a 50-year basis.
But a federal investigator told Burns that the collection wasn't officially removed from the museum's control until November 2002, about a month after Museums Inc. received federal money.
Board member Bob Brown said the family and the board wanted to keep the collection together. "I'm confident there was nothing intentional on the part of this board ... it was a technical oversight," Brown said at the meeting. "How does (the Department of the Interior) feel about that?"
Burns replied, "They're not too sympathetic."
Burns said he expected a letter from the Department of the Interior in the coming weeks outlining a possible violation and fine. The fine depends on the museum's income, he said.
Burns said the best possible action was to reach an agreement with the Shippee family to return the artifacts. The board authorized Burns to reach such an agreement. "
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