Relics from investigated collection on display

A central Indiana museum is displaying numerous Native American relics belonging to a man from whom the FBI seized many artifacts this spring.

The display at the Shelby County Historical Society's Grover Museum includes arrowheads, pottery and tools on loan from Don Miller. FBI agents searched Miller's rural home in neighboring Rush County for several days in April, with officials saying he improperly possessed some items among his collection of thousands of artifacts from around the world.

Grover Museum director Candy Miller told The Shelbyville News that she had been talking with Miller about the display before learning about the FBI investigation. She called the exhibit a "peek inside his collection."

"I was overwhelmed when I went to his house," she said. "It is an amazing, lifelong collection."

Visitors to Miller's collection have said it included items such as shrunken heads, Ming Dynasty jade and a 60-foot anaconda skin.

Authorities have not said which, if any, of the items might have been illegally obtained, and the rules regarding the removal or collection of cultural artifacts are complex, involving state, federal and international laws.

Miller, 91, wasn't arrested following the search. An FBI spokesman didn't immediately return a telephone message from The Associated Press on Thursday seeking an update on the investigation.

The exhibit at the Shelbyville museum focuses on Indiana-related Native American artifacts and continues until Sept. 20, WISH-TV reported.

"We're just really fortunate to have our friend, Don Miller, loan us these things after all he went through and to bring them to the museum so the public can get little better look," Candy Miller said.