Source: The Boston Globe

On December 20, 2004 The Boston Globe reported, "nearly a century ago, eight bodies of Narragansett tribespeople were exhumed in the name of science and shipped to a Smith College laboratory. No permission from the tribe was sought or granted making the noted professor who oversaw the work, in the view of tribal leaders, not a scientist but a grave robber. Now plans are underway to return the remains to their original resting place in [Charlestown, R.I.] home of the Narragansetts for thousands of years. But repairing the damage is hardly as simple as moving bones from Massachusetts to Rhode Island. The Narragansetts hope to return the remains to the original burial ground, but they no longer own the land and may not be able to pinpoint the gravesites."