Training

NAGPRA Basics Training

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The National NAGPRA Program offers free on-demand training on a variety of topics for beginner to advanced NAGPRA practitioners. Since 2010, the National NAGPRA Program has produced videos, training sessions, and webinars. Recordings are available on the National NAGPRA Program YouTube Channel.

Where should I start?

Watch NAGPRA Basics (recorded live in 2014). It covers the background of NAGPRA, the consultation and decision making process, notices, grants, and civil penalties. Both new and veteran NAGPRA practitioners have found this training to be helpful in their work. In two parts, total running time three hours.

Or explore below to find Online Trainings, Videos, and Recorded Webinars suited to your interests.

Online Training

In 2022, the National NAGPRA Program partnered with the National Preservation Institute to develop in-depth training on various issues related to NAGPRA implementation. Through a cooperative agreement between the National Park Service and the National Preservation Institute, these online training seminars were developed based on in-person seminars designed to provide participants with practical knowledge and tools needed to support their NAGPRA efforts.

NAGPRA 101

This training will cover the basics of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), who the law applies to, and the background of why the law was created.

NAGPRA Consultation

This training will cover when consultation occurs, the legal mandates for consultation, and who the consulting parties are under NAGPRA.

NAGPRA Consultation in a Virtual Setting

This training will explore the ways in which meaningful consultation can take place in a virtual setting as part of compliance with Subpart C of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).

NAGPRA Inventories

This training will cover what an inventory is and who must compile one, the legal definition of categories under an inventory, and why an inventory is necessary under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).

NAGPRA Summaries

This training will cover what a summary is and who must compile one, the legal definition of categories under a summary, and why a summary is necessary under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).

Aboriginal Land Under NAGPRA

This training will review available resources for identifying aboriginal land, demonstrate their uses, and review case studies.

Establishing a NAGPRA Data Management System for Museums

This training will discuss how best to establish and maintain a robust data management system as part of compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).

Videos

Produced in 2010, the National NAGPRA Program conducted fifty interviews in ten cities across the country. These interviews with tribal members, museum officials, and Federal agency representatives provide hours of information on consultation, grants, notices, law making, dispositions, documentation, and repatriation.

NAGPRA

Explore NAGPRA in a nutshell through a composite of interviews with NAGPRA constituents.

The Development of NAGPRA

Explore the significant events that led to the passage of NAGPRA, and consider the significance for Native Americans, museums and the scientific community today.

Consultation under NAGPRA

Understand how the term "consultation" is defined under NAGPRA, review NAGPRA's requirements for consultation, and get guidelines and suggestions toward successful consultation.

Decision-Making under NAGPRA

Explore how to determine cultural affiliation under NAGPRA, examine how a decision is reached, and review what occurs when there is a dispute over a finding.

Notices

Understand NAGPRA notices and find out what information each type of notice should contain.

Grants

Discuss two types of grants, review grant supported activities, and hear from successful grant applicants and NAGPRA Grants panelists. Find tips for strengthening your grant application.

Review Committee

Hear from past and present Review Committee members about membership and responsibilities, watch an actual dispute before a Review Committee, and listen to members' personal perspectives on working relationships, consensus, and emerging issues in NAGPRA.

Civil Penalties

Walk through the NAGPRA civil penalties process. Discover how a museum can fail to comply with the Act, how to file an allegation against a museum, the museum's rights in a proceeding, and what's involved in the civil penalty stage of the process.

Webinars

Recorded in 2016, the National NAGPRA Program hosted several webinars on a variety of topics and recordings are available.

Culturally Affiliated Native American Human Remains and Associated Funerary Objects that Have Not Yet Been Included in Notices

In this webinar, the National NAGPRA Program will walk participants through the steps for museums and Federal agency units in order to resolve the number of identified individuals in culturally affiliated inventories that have not been included in notices.

Facilitating Consultation on, and the Repatriation/Disposition of, Native American Human Remains/Cultural Items from Michigan: The Work of the Michigan Anishinaabek Cultural Preservation & Repatriation Alliance (MACPRA)

The Michigan Anishinaabek Cultural Preservation & Repatriation Alliance (MACPRA) consists of eleven federally recognized Indian Tribes and two non-federally recognized Indian groups from the State of Michigan. In this webinar, the Chair of MACPRA will discuss the work of the Alliance in facilitating consultation on, and the repatriation/disposition of, Native American human remains/cultural items from Michigan and, together with museum NAGPRA staff, will describe their experiences with the NAGPRA compliance process.

NAGPRA for Newbies: An Opportunity for New NAGPRA Staff to Ask Basic Questions

This webinar is for new NAGPRA staff to ask basic questions about the NAGPRA process. Before attending this webinar, participants who have not already done so should watch the 3-hour, two-part NAGPRA Basics.

The Rule on Unclaimed Cultural Items Removed from Federal Lands after November 16, 1990

On November 5, 2015, a final rule concerning the disposition of unclaimed human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, or objects of cultural patrimony was published in the Federal Register, and became effective on December 7. This webinar walks participants through the provisions of the rule, and offers templates for Federal agencies to report unclaimed cultural items to the National NAGPRA Program and to publish notices of proposed transfer of cultural items, or reinterment of human remains or funerary objects.

Other Videos

Implementing NAGPRA Connecting Medical Examiner and Coroner Offices to Tribal Partners

This project is designed to connect tribal partners to medical examiner/coroner (ME/C) offices to faciitate successful disposition protocols for non-forensically significant Native American remains that are compliant with NAGPRA. The presentation is supported by a grant awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.