CNN —The American Museum of Natural History in New York will remove all human remains displayed in its exhibits and is preparing a new storage location for its collection of 12,000 remains – which includes skeletal remains of Indigenous and enslaved Black people – according to a letter from the museum president obtained by CNN.
“We must acknowledge that, with the small exception of those who bequeathed their bodies to medical schools for continued study, no individual consented to have their remains included in a museum collection,” museum President Sean M. Decatur said in the letter to staff.
American Museum of Natural HistorySkeletons and mummies will be removed from 12 display cases, as well as musical instruments and beads made from or incorporating human bones, Decatur said.
What the museum has on display is only “a very small percentage” of its full collection of skeletal remains, museum spokesperson Kendra Snyder said in a statement to CNN.
A 19th-century Tibetan apron, made of human bone, is displayed near Tibetan masks in the Hall of Asian Peoples.
Persons:
“, Sean M, Decatur, Kendra Snyder, Snyder, ” Decatur, ”
Organizations:
CNN, American Museum of, American, of, Hall of, of Asian Peoples . American
Locations:
New York, Mongolia, United States, Hall of Mexico, South America