Delaware Tribe Historic Preservation Office
The Delaware Tribe's Historic Preservation Office (DTHPO) is tasked with monitoring and protecting sites of cultural and religious significance to the Delaware Tribe. Such sites would include locations such as social and ceremonial sites, cemeteries and graves, archaeological sites, traditional cultural properties and reburial sites. The DTHPO is currently located at 1420 C of E Drive, Suite 190, Emporia, Kansas 66801.
The DTHPO also includes the NAGPRA Program which is responsible for documenting the cultural affiliation of Delaware human remains and funerary objects held by federal agencies and museums with the ultimate goal of repatriating and reburying such remains once identified. Also included within the DTHPO is the Delaware Library/Museum that will be located at the tribal headquarters in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Our first step toward this goal is supported through our partnership with the Bartlesville Area History Museum and the Bartlesville Public Library.
NAGPRA Program
Much of the DTHPO's activities have centered around work with NAGPRA (the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990).
More about the NAGPRA Program...
Delaware Library/Museum
The Delaware Library/Museum is intended to "to offer meaningful resources that meets genealogical, cultural, and educational needs of the Native American community, both those residing in and those visiting the Delaware Service Area."
More about the Delaware Library/Museum...
Geospatial Database
The DTHPO is currently compiling a geospatial database which will map sites of cultural and religious significance. This database will be used during consultations with federal and state agencies and developers so that Delaware-related cultural resources will not be disturbed by commercial development or agency actions.
Tribal Historic Preservation Grant
In July 2011, the Historic Preservation Office was awarded a Tribal Historic Preservation Grant by the National Park Service. Funding from this 18-month grant will support much-needed archaeological research on the early 19th century Delaware villages in southwestern Missouri. The grant will also support the travel for tribal members who would like to volunteer to participate in the field work that will be carried out in the Fall of 2011 by the Center for Archaeological Research at Missouri State University (CAR-MSU). The results of this archaeological field work will allow us to better document the Delaware settlements and cemeteries in southwest Missouri and nominate them for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.
Please contact our office (bobermeyer@delawaretribe.org) if you would like to volunteer.