[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 11 (Thursday, January 16, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 2385]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-1066]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Notice of Intent to Repatriate a Cultural Item in the Possession 
of the W.H. Over State Museum of the South Dakota State Historical 
Society, Vermillion, SD

AGENCY: National Park Service

ACTION: Notice

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    Notice is hereby given under the Native American Graves Protection 
and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3005 (a)(2), of the intent to 
repatriate a cultural item in the possession of the W. H. Over State 
Museum of the South Dakota State Historical Society, Vermillion, SD, 
which meets the definition of ``object of cultural patrimony'' under 
Section 2 of the Act.
    The object is a drum made from a wooden washtub with hide stretched 
over the top and tacked with metal nails. The washtub, ivory in color, 
has four rope handles and is braced around the middle and near the base 
with heavy wire. A brass plaque attached to the drum reads: ``Northern 
Ponca Hethushka, or War Dance Drum Donated to the South Dakota Museum 
by Thomas Knudsen October 5, 1963 Restored to its Original Condition 
under the Direction of Peter Leclaire.''
    During the late 1950s and early 1960s, when the Northern Ponca were 
being terminated as a federally-recognized Indian tribe by the Federal 
government, the Keeper of the Hethu'shka Drum, Thomas Knudsen, removed 
the drum from the tribal community building for safekeeping. Mr. 
Knudsen then apparently placed the drum in the hands of Peter LeClaire, 
then Tribal Historian, in order to have the drum refurbished. The drum 
was never returned. The drum is noted as coming into the collection of 
the W.H. Over Museum (then the South Dakota Museum) in the fall of 
1963, but no deed of gift has been located. It is likely that Mr. 
LeClaire actually donated the drum. 
    The drum's cultural affiliation with the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska is 
clearly identified through museum records, donor information, and by 
representatives of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. Representatives of the 
Ponca Tribe of Nebraska state that this drum is used for a variety of 
Ponca dances and ceremonies, including the Hethu'shka, a warrior 
society. Further, representatives of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska state 
that this drum has ongoing historical, traditional, and cultural 
importance central to the tribe, and could not have been alienated, 
appropriated, or conveyed by any individual regardless of whether or 
not the individual was a member of the tribe.
    Officials of the W.H. Over State Museum have determined that, 
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(D), this cultural item has ongoing 
historical, traditional, and cultural importance central to the culture 
itself, and could not have been alienated, appropriated, or conveyed by 
any individual. Officials of the W.H. Over State Museum have also 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship 
of shared group identity which can be reasonably traced between these 
items and the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska.
    This notice has been sent to officials of the Ponca Tribe of 
Nebraska. Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes 
itself to be culturally affiliated with these objects should contact 
Ms. Cathleen MacDonald, Assistant Curator, W.H. Over State Museum, 414 
E. Clark St., Vermillion, SD 57069, telephone (605) 677-5273 before 
February 18, 1997. Repatriation of this object to the Ponca Tribe of 
Nebraska may begin after that date if no additional claimants come 
forward.
Dated: January 8, 1997.
Francis P. McManamon,
Departmental Consulting Archeologist,
Chief, Archeology and Ethnography Program.
[FR Doc. 97-1066 Filed 1-15-97; 8:45 am]
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