A Pennsylvania museum will return the remains of a Wabanaki child to Maine.
The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology has determined that a skull in its collection belongs to a Penobscot child between ages 12 and 15, according to a notice dated Feb. 25, 2025, and filed Wednesday in the Federal Register.
Dr. Paul Swift came into possession of the skull sometime before 1840. Swift lived on Nantucket in Massachusetts, where he worked as a doctor until he moved his practice to Philadelphia in 1841, according to the notice.
Dr. Samuel G. Morton acquired the skull from Swift in 1840, and he kept the remains in his collection at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Morton died in 1851, and the academy purchased his collection in 1853.
In 1961, that was loaned to the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, which formally acquired the collection in 1997.
“Based on the wishes of the Tribes, the Penn Museum supports the disposition of the human remains described in this notice to be made collectively to the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, Mi’kmaq Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe (Indian Township and Pleasant Point), and Penobscot Nation, as represented by the Maine Wabanaki Intertribal Repatriation Committee,” the notice reads.
The remains will be repatriated on or after April 18, 2025.
