BARRE, Mass. - Members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota will finally be able to bring home important pieces of their history.

The items have been stored for over 100 years in Central Massachusetts. 

A full house at town hall cheered the decision by the board of the Barre Museum to return the artifacts. The museum has an extensive collection of objects from the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890, when it’s believed around 300 Dakota Sioux were massacred.

Native Americans have tried to get these items returned for almost three decades. The museum has over 120 pieces, including what they believe to be human remains. The tribe said this helps in the healing process.  

“It’s time for us to heal. We cannot go back in time to change things. We can’t do that,” Chief Henry Red Cloud said. “What we can do is learn from it and embrace it.”

Tribal elders said they believe it will take up to a year and a half to bring back all the pieces. They’re having experts verify them and they say they will also need to be cleaned because they believe they preserved them with arsenic.