The family of the woman, Mary Sara, had no idea her brain had been taken until informed by reporters.
Family members of Mary Sara gather with local community members for the burial of her brain at Evergreen Washelli, a cemetery in Seattle, on Aug. 29. Washington Post photo by Salwan Georges.
On Aug. 28, a Smithsonian employee flew from the D.C. area to Seattle with Sara’s brain, which was immersed in preservatives within a sealed container. The brain was later transferred to a cushioned wooden box. The Post investigation published last month revealed that the Natural History Museum held 255 brains, including Sara’s, in a Maryland storage facility. The vast majority were collected in the early 20th century at the behest of Hrdlicka, a prominent anthropologist who believed in the superiority of White people. The 254 brains that remain are just a fraction of at least 30,700 human remains still kept by the museum, the majority of which appear to have been taken without consent.
The museum had approved the return of Sara’s brain earlier this year, and shortly after The Post published its investigation in August, the director of the Natural History Museum, Kirk Johnson, called Sara’s cousin, Martha Sara Jack, to help arrange the burial. Johnson declined to comment through a spokesman.
Jack’s husband, Fred, played recordings of Christian hymns on an iPad, and Julie Whitehorn, a local Sami community member, used her phone to play traditional Sami songs known as joiks. Jack, who was born 12 years after Sara died, told the small crowd that she had heard about her cousin through stories that were passed down to her. Sara had been close friends with Jack’s mother and planned to marry a childhood sweetheart when she returned from Seattle.
Twitchell-Justiss said she was hopeful the return of Sara’s brain could help the Smithsonian move faster in repatriating remains for other families and communities. “I hope the museum makes great strides to fulfill their promises to do better,” she said. “If they can do that in Mary’s honor, then all the better.”
Museum officials said the cerebellum appeared to be cremated by the institution years later, and they could not confirm whether it belonged to Maura. Overall, there were at least 27 brains, including the cerebellum, taken from Filipinos. Rachel Twitchell-Justiss, left, and Martha Sara Jack, both cousins of Mary Sara's, lower into the ground a suede bag containing a wooden box holding her brain. Washington Post photo by Salwan Georges.
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