Letters to the Editor | Sept. 2, 2025 Inquirer readers on the Mütter Museum and the Hanwha shipyard in South Philadelphia.

@mxabdulaliy.bsky.social and I wrote a letter to the editor which ran in @inquirer.com today re: the Mütter Museum’s horrifyingly regressive new Human Remains Policy.

The Mütter Museum needs to close.

#FindingCeremony

web.archive.org/web/20250902...

My Co-Convener, aAliy Muhammad, and I are available for keynotes/talks for an appropriate fee.

If you're interested in inviting us to speak about #FindingCeremony at your institution, organization, or conference, you can reach us at: lyra.d.monteiro at gmail.

Finding Ceremony for Ancestors Held in the Penn Museum and Other Colonial Institutions An anthropologist and an organizer try to connect descendant communities with the remains of 20 Black Philadelphians slated for court-ordered burial.

If you're writing a syllabus in anthropology, public history/humanities, museum studies, etc., please consider these pieces about #FindingCeremony:

1. This short intro which I co-authored with Finding Ceremony's Co-Convener, @mxabdulaliy.bsky.social in @SAPIENS_org: www.sapiens.org/biology/find...

How Penn Museum’s February 3 Burial Plan Ignores Decades of Museum and Archaeological Best Practice Breaking down the Penn Museum’s ignorant misuse of decades of lessons with respectful return of the dead, in their plan to bury the…

Please follow #FindingCeremony for more info.

intersectionist.medium.com/how-penn-mus...

CW: more theft of human remains by a Philly museum + medical examiner in the 1980s.

Tell me again why it’s ok for this museum to exist.

And if they go public with this, think about what isn’t being shared—maybe isn’t even known yet, by current leadership.

#FindingCeremony

TW: link has images of human remains

Excellent piece in today's @newyorker.com by @rachelmonroe.bsky.social re: Philadelphia's Mutter Museum.
No coincidence it's in the same city that was home to Samuel George Morton & is home to the Penn Museum.
#FindingCeremony

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

The list on the webpage has been updated to reflect the expenses we still need help covering--anything you can offer to support the work of caring for ancestors who are currently held as the property of the Penn Museum, is appreciated--including a retweet! #FindingCeremony

Support Finding Ceremony’s Ongoing Costs Finding Ceremony is a reparationist project that needs to be funded by the University of Pennsylvania. Although we plan to pursue grant funding in the meantime, and all labor is being done on a vol…

So grateful for a large contribution that has allowed us to cover many of #FindingCeremony Zoom, travel, and mail merge costs from 2024.
The webpage is now updated with remaining expenses (incl some in these areas--don't worry, they aren't duplicates!): findingceremony.com/support-find...

Support Finding Ceremony’s Ongoing Costs Finding Ceremony is a reparationist project that needs to be funded by the University of Pennsylvania. Although we plan to pursue grant funding in the meantime, and all labor is being done on a vol…

We've just posted an updated list of #FindingCeremony ongoing expenses on our website--please share this post and contribute if you can! Amounts range from $8.80 to $174.54: findingceremony.com/support-find...

Hi Philly folks:

This is an Old Twitter-style request, so 🤞🤞🤞it'll work here:

Does anyone have a couch or other space where I could stay this coming Sunday (2/16) or Monday (2/17) night?

I'm in town for #FindingCeremony research.

Please RT & share elsewhere!

DM or lyra.d.monteiro at gmail

tia!

2. The pic is from an article I came across doing research for my book for #FindingCeremony "UnCollect Our Ancestors": www.thedp.com/article/2018...

Which makes me wonder: did learning about Morton's racist medical practice/training impact him?

(question stands even if this pic isn't him, I guess)

Mailing List for "Finding Ceremony" Please sign up below if you would like to be notified when it's time to take action and receive periodic updates on our work. Finding Ceremony is a descendant-community-led process to restore lineag...

That article by Kristin Hunt for Philly Voice is a damn good one--had occasion to revisit it for the email we just sent out to the #FindingCeremony email list.

If you're not on the list and want to be, sign up here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Finding Ceremony for Ancestors Held in the Penn Museum and Other Colonial Institutions An anthropologist and an organizer try to connect descendant communities with the remains of 20 Black Philadelphians slated for court-ordered burial.

My DMs are open or you can email m: lyra.d.monteiro at gmail
A good intro to #FindingCeremony is this op ed from @SAPIENS_org, which I co-authored with my Co-Convener @mxabdulaliy.bsky.social--if you'd like to invite us to speak to your org/uni/group, get in touch :) www.sapiens.org/biology/find...

Open access violence: Legacies of white supremacist data making at the Penn Museum, from the Morton Cranial Collection to the MOVE remains | International Journal of Cultural Property | Cambridge Core Open access violence: Legacies of white supremacist data making at the Penn Museum, from the Morton Cranial Collection to the MOVE remains - Volume 30 Issue 2

As folks are putting together syllabi for next semester, I wanted to re-share my article re: white supremacist data-making & the MOVE remains/Morton Cranial Collection at Penn Museum. I'm always happy to speak to classes about the article & about #FindingCeremony! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

The list of schools is from a website Janet Monge made in 2018; she claims "independent studies" using the collection were done at each school and also says 42 students used them for research between 2004-2018.

I need to know more for the #FindingCeremony book.
tia!

Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom ...

Here's the link for today's Zoom Orientation for #FindingCeremony at 12pm EST, Saturday, November 30.

us06web.zoom.us/j/8476387066...
(it shouldn't ask for a password, but if it does, use: 023945)

If you're interested and can't come today, reply or DM to let me know.

Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom ...

Here's the link for today's Zoom Orientation for #FindingCeremony at 12pm EST, Saturday, November 30.

us06web.zoom.us/j/8476387066...
(it shouldn't ask for a password, but if it does, use: 023945)

If you're interested and can't come today, reply or DM to let me know.

Here's the link for today's Zoom Orientation for #FindingCeremony
I'm looking forward to meeting some of you!

us06web.zoom.us/j/8476387066...
(it shouldn't ask for a password, but if it does, use: 023945)

If you're interested and can't come today, reply or DM to let me know.

I'm holding a Zoom orientation for folks interested in working more directly with #FindingCeremony:

Saturday, November 30, 12pm EST

DM me or email lyra.d.monteiro at gmail for link.

All are welcome--help with research in Philly is especially needed, no experience required!

I'm holding a Zoom orientation for folks interested in working more directly with #FindingCeremony:

Saturday, November 30, 12pm EST

DM me or email lyra.d.monteiro at gmail for link.

All are welcome--help with research in Philly is especially needed, no experience required!

Thanks for sharing, Alex! I'm holding a Zoom orientation for folks interested in working more directly with #FindingCeremony:

Sat, Nov 30, 12pm EST

DM me or email lyra.d.monteiro at gmail for link.

All are welcome--help with research in Philly is especially needed, no experience required!

Next Zoom orientation for folks interested in working more directly with #FindingCeremony:

Saturday, November 30, 12pm EST

DM me for link--info will also be sent out on our mailing list.

All are welcome--help with research in Philly is especially needed, no experience required!

🏺📜 The work of #FindingCeremony is incredibly important and I think those in the museums and heritage sectors need to be paying attention! ⬇️

Here is the handout from yesterday’s #FindingCeremony Roundtable at #AAA2024Tampa “Ceding Disciplinary Control:
Anthropological Praxis and Descendant Community Organizing for the
Return of Ancestral Remains at the Penn Museum“:

Poster board advertising plenary session for Wednesday, November 20. The topic is the Commission for the Ethical Treatment of Human Remains: Report and Discussion.

THIS IS WHY WE ARE HERE! #FindingCeremony has been trying to address this with respect to Penn Museum’s unconscionable treatment of the victims of the MOVE bombing, the Morton Cranial Collection, and countless Ancestors still held there. #AAA2024Tampa #repatriation

Whelan, Penn says it found another MOVE bombing victim's remains 11-14-24 philly inquirer.pdf

quote is from - attorneys Daniel Hartstein and Bakari Sellers #MuseumsAreNotNeutral #FindingCeremony

[non paywall]

drive.google.com/file/d/1YO4G...

Are you following #FindingCeremony at all? Dr. Lyra Monteiro and journalist Aaliy Muhammad have done so much work to try to hold Penn to account on this

really good example of ethics in action

tysm for sharing this, Caitlin!

We've still got $5,150 to raise so that descendants who don't attend this conference for their own professional reasons aren't expected to pay to speak re: #FindingCeremony at American Anthropological Association's Annual Meeting: findingceremony.com/finding-cere...

Open access violence: Legacies of white supremacist data making at the Penn Museum, from the Morton Cranial Collection to the MOVE remains | International Journal of Cultural Property | Cambridge Core Open access violence: Legacies of white supremacist data making at the Penn Museum, from the Morton Cranial Collection to the MOVE remains - Volume 30 Issue 2

3. There's a lot more to this story; I can share a timeline here if folks are interested. A resource for most of what happened up until Summer 2023 re: MOVE remains and also the Morton Cranial Collection & #FindingCeremony, see my journal article: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
#ReturnDelisha
5/

It certainly seems to be :/ appreciate your posting over here. #FindingCeremony