Birmingham museum to return art to 2 Alaskan tribes

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – A city-owned museum in Alabama will return works of art to two Alaskan Native American tribes that requested the items back in 2017.

A vote by the Birmingham City Council cleared the way for the Birmingham Museum of Art to return items to the Tlingit and Haida tribes. The groups requested the pieces under a 1990 law that requires institutions that receive federal funds to return Native American cultural items to the respective tribes. Museum director Graham C. Boettcher told the council that the museum no longer had a moral or legal claim to the art.

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