Human remains from the California Channel Islands were donated to an English city museum nearly a century ago. More recently research began into how they came to be there, and whose remains they are. The story of the remains turns out to be entwined with the story of the family that donated them to the museum in surprising ways. An international collaboration between curators, archaeologists and descendants pieced the story together, gleaning information from the available historical records and through non-destructive examinations which together can provide a foundation for curatorial decisions about the future of such collections held in an international context.