Healy Pens Influential Series for The Washington Post

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Claire Healy, political science and journalism '21, is a co-author of a major investigative series featured in The Washington Post. The series, presented in a non-traditional multimedia format including historical records, video, imagery, and infographics, explores ethical concerns surrounding the human remains collection at the Smithsonian Institution. The investigation into the collection revealed specimens gathered using troubling practices once considered acceptable, including remains that had been collected from graveyards, battlefields, hospitals, and morgues without the consent of the deceased individuals or their relatives. 

In response to the reporting of Healy and her colleagues, Lonnie G. Bunch III, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post outlining how the institution will address the ethical concerns related to the collection. "The Post's recent coverage regarding the human remains still housed in our collections is certainly illustrative of the Smithsonian's darkest history. This is our inheritance, and we accept the responsibility to address these wrongs to the fullest extent possible," writes Bunch.