Decades Late, Museum Plans to Return 2,700 Native American Hair Samples

The American Museum of Natural History in New York City is planning to return more than 2,700 hair samples taken from Native Americans over 130 years ago. The hair was cut from Indigenous people — including young children — in the 1890s for a science project tied to the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. For decades, the museum kept the samples stored away, even though a federal law passed in 1990 required museums to return Native American remains to their tribes. Now, after updated government rules made clear that hair counts as human remains, the museum says it will finally act.

Two of the people whose hair was taken were sisters named Amy and Rose Cordier, ages 7 and 13. They were Sioux girls living at a boarding school in Nebraska, far from their home on the Rosebud Sioux Tribe reservation. These schools were designed to erase Native American culture — children were forced to work hard, convert to a new religion, and give up their traditions. At least 86 children died at that school alone.

The man who collected the hair was following instructions from Franz Boas, a scientist known as the father of American anthropology. Boas told researchers to gather hair samples from Indigenous people being measured for the World's Fair. Although Boas pushed back against racist science, he also did things many people now consider deeply wrong — like robbing graves and cutting hair from children who could not truly say no.

A federal law called NAGPRA was already in place in the 1990s, requiring museums to return Native American remains to tribes. Many museums argued for years that hair was not covered under the law, only bones and skulls. Native groups disagreed, and in 2024 the federal government updated the rules to clearly include hair as human remains.

For many Native tribes, hair carries deep spiritual meaning. "There are tribes that describe hair as a grounding force, the thing that connects you to the earth itself," said Joseph Pierce, a professor who studies Native American history. Cutting someone's hair without permission can harm their spiritual tie to their community and their ancestors. Many tribes also believe hair is connected to a person's journey after death.

The museum's president, Sean Decatur, said he learned about the hair samples when he started his job in 2023. He said there was no debate inside the museum about whether the hair should be returned — the goal was to do the right thing. However, the discovery may slow down plans to reopen two large exhibit halls, since the law requires tribes to be consulted before the exhibits can open again.

Native American leaders say the long delay in returning the hair has damaged trust. Shannon O'Loughlin, a lawyer and citizen of the Choctaw Nation, said the lack of transparency over 30 years would raise serious trust issues. Melanie Carson of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians said her tribe is still waiting for its ancestors' remains, and that it is not the first time a museum has withheld information from them.

The museum has begun contacting nearly 150 affected tribes and is asking Congress for more money to fund the national repatriation program. The museum could face up to $23 million in fines for not reporting the samples sooner, though the government rarely charges museums for breaking this rule. Museum officials believe they followed the law as it was understood at the time and do not expect to pay fines.

Lori Baker, the researcher who first linked the hair samples to specific people like the Cordier sisters, said they should have been returned in the late 1990s. She is now a university leader in Tennessee, and she believes scientists can still learn from history while also respecting the people behind the research. "There is a way to do it where you work with these nations and talk to them about how to honor them," she said.

When asked if the museum would ever stop needing to apologize to Native American groups, President Decatur shook his head. He said that being a good and decent institution means owning up to past harms and working to make things right. For the tribes still waiting, the return of their ancestors' hair will be a step — but only the beginning — of a longer healing process.