According to a yet-to-be-finalized university report published by The Harvard Crimson, Harvard University holds in its collections the remains of nearly 7,000 Indigenous people and at least 19 enslaved people. The leaked report, which was being compiled by Harvard University’s Steering Committee on Human Remains in Harvard Museum Collections, has not definitively determined which recommendations will be made in deciding what is to be done with the remains. “For too long, these remains have been separated from their individuality, their history, and their communities,” the uncompleted Steering Committee report reads. “To restore those connections will require further provenance research and community consultation. In addition, research might include DNA or other analysis for the express purpose of identifying lineal descendants.”
