On December 16, 2024, Colgate University repatriated the remains of 21 Oneida ancestors from the collections of the Longyear Museum of Anthropology to the Oneida Indian Nation at the Nation’s Mary C. Winder Community Center. The repatriation continues the longtime partnership between the Oneida Indian Nation and Colgate University and reaffirms the university’s commitment to the return of all Oneida Indian Nation ancestors and artifacts in its collections.
Oneida Indian Nation Homelands (December 17, 2024) – The Oneida Indian Nation and Colgate University came together yesterday to repatriate the remains of 21 Oneida ancestors to the Nation from the collections of the university’s Longyear Museum of Anthropology.
The repatriation was part of a visit from Colgate University President Brian Casey and a delegation of university leaders, who had the opportunity to meet with Oneida Indian Nation leadership, tour the new Mary C. Winder Community Center and the Nation’s Shako:wi Cultural Center and learn more about the rich history and cultural legacy of the Oneida people.
The ancestors repatriated to the Oneida Indian Nation included the remains of seven individuals from burials at the site of a 17th-century village in Madison County within the Oneida Treaty of Canandaigua Reservation boundaries. The remains were removed from their resting place by avocational archaeologist Theodore Whitney, a member of the Chenango Chapter of the New York State Archaeological Association, sometime in the 1960s and donated to the Longyear Museum at Colgate University in the early 1970s.
Remains of another 14 Oneida ancestors removed by avocational archaeologists associated with the New York State Archeological Association – Chenango Chapter from an unknown number of sites were also repatriated during Monday’s event. These ancestral remains were disinterred from Oneida ancestral lands between 1950 and 1980.
“We are grateful for the partnership that has grown between the Oneida Indian Nation and Colgate University and for the leadership the university has shown in the repatriation of Native American remains and artifacts,” said Oneida Indian Nation Representative Ray Halbritter. “Throughout all of our work together on repatriations, the university has consistently demonstrated the high levels of urgency and thoroughness that are required to ensure Native remains are returned to their proper resting place.”
President Casey shared his thanks for the collaborative nature of the work between the Oneida Indian Nation and Colgate University.
“Working alongside the members of the Oneida Indian Nation is an honor for our faculty and staff, and we are appreciative of their strong partnership in this important endeavor,” Casey said.
Monday’s repatriation reaffirms the University’s longtime commitment to the return of ancestral remains and cultural artifacts to Native American tribes. In 1995, the University made its first repatriation to the Nation, returning the remains of seven Oneida ancestors and eight funerary objects.
Most recently, in November 2022, more than 1,500 funerary belongings and other cultural items were transferred from the collections of the Longyear Museum to the Oneida Indian Nation in one of the largest repatriations of its kind in New York State history. During the 2022 repatriation event, President Casey offered an official apology on behalf of the university for its past acquisitions of Native American remains and cultural objects and expressed a strong commitment to righting these wrongs in the future.
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About the Oneida Indian Nation
The Oneida Indian Nation is a federally recognized Indian nation in Central New York. A founding member of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (also known as the Six Nations or Iroquois Confederacy), the Oneida Indian Nation sided with the Americans in the Revolutionary War and was thanked by Congress and President George Washington for its loyalty and assistance. Today, the Oneida Indian Nation consists of about 1,000 enrolled Members, most of them living in Central New York. The Nation’s enterprises, which employ more than 4,500 people, include Turning Stone Resort Casino, YBR Casino & Sports Book, Point Place Casino, The Lake House at Sylvan Beach, The Cove at Sylvan Beach, Maple Leaf Markets, SāvOn Convenience stores, Verona Collective, a seed-to-sale cannabis operation, RV Park, and marinas. Proceeds from these enterprises are used to rebuild the Nation’s economic base and provide essential services, including housing, health care, and education incentives and programs, to its Members.
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