Our policy allows us to deaccession items which have
     been "inappropriately acquired" or for which we lack
     clear legal title.  Seems to me that in the USA, NAGPRA
     (federal law) suggests that some items (human bone,
     sacred objects, etc., all defined in the law or
     regulations) could not have been given or sold to the
     museum in the first place, making them inappropriate.

     Our policy goes further, and indicates that we
     "...shall not knowingly and willfully accept or acquire
     any object that was illegally imported into or
     illegally collected in the United States, or that was
     collected or recovered under circumstances that would
     support or encourage irresponsible damage to or
     destruction of sites, artifacts, cultural or natural
     monuments, or human burial places."

     I hope this is helpful.  Repatriation, when it comes to
     your museum, can be a hot topic.  Good luck.

     Chris Dill

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C. L. Dill, Museum Director
State Historical Society of North Dakota
612 East Boulevard
Bismarck  ND  58505-0830    USA
P: (701)328-2666
F: (701)328-3710
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Visit our Web site at: http://www.state.nd.us/hist/
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