[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 45 (Friday, March 7, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Page 11136]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-5514]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate a Cultural Item: Field Museum of 
Natural History, Chicago, IL

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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    Notice is here given in accordance with the Native American Graves 
Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3005, Sec. 7, of 
the intent to repatriate a cultural item in the possession of the Field 
Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, that meets the definition of 
``sacred object'' under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003, Sec. 5 
(d)(3). The determinations within this notice are the sole 
responsibility of the museum, institution, or Federal agency that has 
control of these cultural items. The National Park Service is not 
responsible for the determinations within this notice.
    The cultural item is a Thunder Clan War Bundle, which consists of a 
club, a pipe and rest, 13 whistles, animal skins, 3 small containers, a 
fire drill, a headpiece, and a rattle.
    The museum purchased the war bundle in 1926 in Winnebago, NE, from 
Oliver La Mere, a member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. The museum 
accessioned the war bundle into its collection the same year.
    The war bundle is culturally affiliated with the Ho-Chunk people, 
who are now the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and the Winnebago Tribe of 
Nebraska. In a letter dated April 20, 1998, the Winnebago Tribe of 
Nebraska advised the museum that, ``[t]he Repatriation Department, 
representing the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska has agreed to let the Ho-
Chunk Nation of Wisconsin repatriate the sacred Thunder Clan War Bundle 
(Catalog No. 155613) from the Chicago Field Museum in Chicago. The 
Winnebago Tribe has agreed that all War Bundles go back to Wisconsin, 
even though they come from Nebraska, because the Ho-Chunk Nation still 
does War Bundle ceremonies.'' Based on this letter and other 
information provided to the museum by the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin, 
it is the museum's understanding that the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska 
no longer practices the traditional ways of the Ho-Chunk people and 
that the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska will not seek repatriation of the 
war bundle pursuant to NAGPRA.
    Officials of the museum have determined that, pursuant to 25 
U.S.C., Sec. 2 (3)(C), this cultural item is a specific ceremonial 
object needed by traditional Native American religious leaders for the 
practice of traditional Native American religions by their present-day 
adherents.
    Officials of the museum also have determined that, pursuant to 25 
U.S.C. 3001, Sec. 2 (2), there is a relationship of shared group 
identity that can be reasonably traced between the war bundle and the 
Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska and the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin.
    Officials of the museum recognize that the war bundle is 
significant to the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin, and assert that the 
museum has right of possession of the war bundle. However, the museum 
has reached an agreement with the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin that 
will allow the museum to return the war bundle to the tribe pursuant to 
the compromise of claim provisions of the museum's repatriation policy. 
The museum will return the war bundle to the Ho-Chunk Nation of 
Wisconsin in reliance upon passage by the Ho-Chunk Nation Legislature 
on November 4, 2002, of Resolution [numsign]11-04-02B, ``Tribal 
Property Rights of Repatriated Items,'' which identifies the war bundle 
as a sacred object and provides that any object repatriated to the Ho-
Chunk Nation of Wisconsin shall be considered property of the Ho-Chunk 
Nation of Wisconsin and shall be inalienable from the tribe.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with this sacred object should contact 
Jonathan Haas, MacArthur Curator of North American Anthropology, Field 
Museum of Natural History, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 
60605, telephone (312) 665-7829, before April 7, 2003. Repatriation of 
this sacred object to the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin may proceed 
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Field Museum of Natural History is responsible for notifying 
the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska 
that this notice has been published.

    December 17, 2002.
John Robbins,
Assistant Director, Cultural Resources Stewardship and Partnerships.
[FR Doc. 03-5514 Filed 3-6-02; 8:45 am]
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