The Ongoing Significance Of Geronimo’s Story

Geronimo died in 1909 and was buried at Fort Sill.

His skull — or what was claimed to be his skull — may have been removed from that grave nine years later by Yale students playing at grave-robbing as part of their secret society traditions.

If true, this act would be consistent with a broader pattern in American history: the treatment of Indigenous remains and associated objects as curiosities, as trophy items, as materials available for collection by those with the power to take them.

That pattern — the collection of Native American bones, skulls, and cultural items by museums, universities, private collectors, and curiosity-seekers — was widespread in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.