The National Museum of the American Indian Act (NMAIA) was passed in 1989, as Public Law 101-185. The law established the National Museum of the American Indian, part of the Smithsonian Institution. This law also made it necessary for the Smithsonian to take an inventory of the Native American burial artifacts in its collections, as well as consider the repatriation of certain artifacts to federally recognized tribes.
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The NMAIA was passed with the Smithsonian in mind. The NMAIA included provisions for the erection of a new museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to house Native American artifacts, as well as the new acquisitions from the Heye Foundation's Museum of the American Indian made possible through the NMAIA. In recognition of the Heye Foundation's origins in New York, the George Gustave Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian was also created by the NMAIA in the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in New York City.
The purpose of the NMAI is threefold:
As a result of the law, the Smithsonian Institution was required to document and repatriate culturally affiliated artifacts within a certain timeline. The preponderance of these artifacts are housed in the National Museum of the American Indian and in the National Museum of Natural History.
The Smithsonian had amassed a huge collection of Native American artifacts and memorabilia including:
The 1996 amendment to the NMAIA included five criteria for items that are eligible for repatriation, based on the definitions offered in the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990:
About 3 percent, or 25,000 artifacts, fall under the provision of these criteria.