Claire Healy

• The Collection

The Smithsonian holds over 30,700 human remains, but never released a full inventory. The Post offers a starting point to learn more about the collection.

• The Collection

Interviews with former Smithsonian employees show they faced resistance from Natural History Museum anthropologists when seeking to repatriate human remains.

• The Collection

The Smithsonian museum’s collection of human remains contains dozens of brains from vulnerable Washington, D.C., residents, many taken without consent.

• D.C., Md. & Va.

A broad coalition filled Freedom Plaza and marched to the White House, pressuring politicians for a cease-fire in the Israel-Gaza war and an end to U.S. aid to Israel.

• The Collection

The family of the woman, Mary Sara, had no idea her brain had been taken until informed by reporters.

“Searching for Maura” is part of The Washington Post’s investigative series about the Smithsonian’s collections of human brains and remains.

• Exclusive

The Smithsonian’s human brains collection was led by Ales Hrdlicka, a museum curator in the 1900s who believed that White people were superior.

In 2022, Post reporters learned the museum collected the brains of four Filipinos at the 1904 World’s Fair. The discovery would spark a year-long investigation.

• The Collection

Mula Pilipinas, nagtungo si Maura sa 1904 World’s Fair para maitampok. Nang pumanaw siya, maaaring kinuha ng antropologo ng Smithsonian ang bahagi ng kaniyang utak.