For Tribes & Descendent Communities

Access to Collections

Tribal cultural experts Walter Lara, Yurok Tribe (seated left) and Glen Moore and Chance Carpenter ('15), Hoopa Valley Tribe (standing right) explore late 19th-century collections from northern California with students (2015). Stanford University Archaeology Collections of the Stanford Archaeology Center

The Stanford Archaeology Center strives to make the Stanford University Archaeology Collections accessible to many stakeholder communities. We also warmly invite input from descendant communities regarding collections and their care. 

Most of SUAC collections are not yet available online. For more information about current holdings of archaeological, ethnographic, and archival collections, please contact us. Please see our Collections Management Policy for more details on current policies and procedures.

SUAC respects that control over understandings known as “traditional knowledge” and/or “intangible heritage” rests with the individual and collective keepers of that heritage, as defined by originating communities. We acknowledge the historic harm alienation from this knowledge has done and continues to do. We also acknowledge that Stanford continues to benefit through access to this knowledge and materials through which it manifests, as do those privileged to work with these materials. We warmly invite guidance and dialogue on these matters.

Repatriation & NAGPRA

Stanford University fully complies with federal repatriation legislation and embraces the ethics and spirit of repatriation law. These imperatives impact both the SUAC collections and collections at the Cantor Arts Center. The Director of Heritage Services oversees compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act on behalf of the university as a whole. Tribes interested in repatriation are invited to ljones [at] stanford.edu (subject: Re%3A%20Repatriation) (contact )the Director of Heritage Services, suarchcoll [at] stanford.edu (subject: Re%3A%20Repatriation) (email us), or use SUAC's contact form to consult further.

For more Information on repatriation efforts at Stanford:

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