Anderson’s methods — his claim to possess documents and photographs of disputed provenance, his account of the New York meeting — have been questioned by some researchers while being taken seriously by others.

Marc Wortman’s accidental discovery of the 1918 letter in 2005 brought the story to a new level of documentation.

As a Yale historian, his credibility gave the letter’s publication significant weight.

His own stated skepticism about whether the grave robbed in 1918 was actually Geronimo’s provides an important counterweight to the letter’s dramatic content.

Harlyn Geronimo’s advocacy, and the 2009 federal lawsuit, brought the question into the legal arena and forced a public discussion of NAGPRA’s applicability to the situation.

The CT Insider’s 2023 investigation added additional documentary evidence and amplified the descendants’ call for DNA testing.