[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 223 (Tuesday, November 20, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65354-65355]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-22669]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: Horner Collection, 
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

    Notice is here given in accordance with the Native American Graves 
Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3005, of the intent 
to repatriate cultural items in the possession of the Horner 
Collection, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR that meet the 
definition of ``unassociated funerary objects'' 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 (d)(3). 
The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
museum, institution, or Federal

[[Page 65355]]

agency that has control of the cultural items. The National Park 
Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.
    The five cultural items are one antler tool; one nose ring or 
bracelet; one mortar and pestle; one jar of beads; and one bag of 
bells.
    The Museum of Oregon Country, Oregon Agricultural College was 
renamed the John B. Horner Museum of the Oregon Country in 1936, and 
became commonly known as the Horner Museum. The Oregon Agricultural 
College was renamed Oregon State College in 1937, and became Oregon 
State University in 1962. The Horner Museum closed in 1995. Currently, 
cultural items from the Horner Museum are referred to as the Horner 
Collection, which is owned by, and in the possession of, Oregon State 
University.
    Horner Collection, Oregon State University professional staff 
consulted with representatives of the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, 
Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians of Oregon; Confederated Tribes of the 
Grand Ronde Community of Oregon; Confederated Tribes of the Siletz 
Reservation, Oregon; Coquille Tribe of Oregon; and Santa Rosa Indian 
Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California.
    On March 17, 1929, V.P. Mitchell removed a ``horn implement'' from 
an unknown site near Yachats, OR. On December 21, 1933, V.P. Mitchell 
donated the antler horn implement to the museum and listed as part of 
the J. G. Crawford collection. Although the Horner Collection, Oregon 
State University has no documentation that the antler tool was ever 
buried with any individual, Mr. Crawford is known to have collected 
human remains and cultural items from burials and mounds.
    On December 21, 1933, V.P. Mitchell donated a nose ring or bracelet 
to the museum. Provenience records show that the item was in V.P. 
Mitchell's possession in 1929 and is listed as a ``Yachats Indian nose 
ring.'' On June 27, 2006, a representative of the Santa Rosa Indian 
Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California identified the item 
as a bracelet of a young lady or grandmother. On February 11, 2004, a 
representative of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, Oregon 
identified the cultural item as a funerary object from Yachats, OR.
    At an unknown date, cultural items were removed by Mrs. P. Mitchell 
from an unknown area near Yachats, OR. On April 13, 1968, Mrs. Mitchell 
donated one mortar and pestle, one jar of Indian beads, and one bag of 
bells, along with a human skull, to the museum. A deed of gift was 
submitted, which states ``Collection of Indian artifacts found near 
Yachats, OR.'' The Horner Collection, Oregon State University has no 
specific documentation that the cultural items were ever buried with 
any individual. However, with the inclusion of a human skull donated 
with the cultural items, the museum has identified them as unassociated 
funerary objects. The human remains are described in a previously 
published Notice of Inventory Completion in the Federal Register of 
October 26, 2005 (FR Doc 05-21332, pages 61839-61840).
    All of the above cultural items were removed from undisclosed 
locations near Yachats, OR. According to a tribal representative for 
the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation, Oregon, the Yachats 
area had large middens lining the lower Yachats River and nearby 
coastline. Large middens show the extensive time period of occupation 
of the Yachats area. The Yachats area was made part of the Siletz/Coast 
Reservation when it was established in 1855. This area was inhabited by 
the Alsea, Coos, Lower Umpqua, some South Slough and lower Coquille 
people, and some members of other tribes also confederated upon the 
Siletz Reservation. The Alsea people, as well as others that lived at 
Yachats, moved to the Siletz reservation in 1876. Descendants of tribes 
from the Yachats area are members of the Confederated Tribes of the 
Siletz Reservation, Oregon.
    Based on geographic, historic documents, museum and donor history, 
and consultation evidence, the Horner Collection, Oregon State 
University reasonably believe the cultural items to be unassociated 
funerary objects and culturally affiliated with the Confederated Tribes 
of the Siletz Reservation, Oregon.
    Officials of the Horner Collection, Oregon State University have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(B), the five cultural 
items described above are reasonably believed to have been placed with 
or near individual human remains at the time of death or later as part 
of the death rite or ceremony and are believed, by a preponderance of 
the evidence, to have been removed from a specific burial site of a 
Native American individual. Officials of the Horner Collection, Oregon 
State University also have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 
(2), there is a relationship of shared group identity that can be 
reasonably traced between the unassociated funerary objects and the 
Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation, Oregon.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary objects should 
contact Sabah Randhawa, Executive Vice President and Provost, 
President's Office, Oregon State University, 600 Kerr Administration 
Building, Corvallis, OR 97331, telephone (541) 737-8260, before 
December 20, 2007. Repatriation of the unassociated funerary objects to 
the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation, Oregon may proceed 
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Horner Collection, Oregon State University is responsible for 
notifying the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw 
Indians of Oregon; Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of 
Oregon; Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation, Oregon; Coquille 
Tribe of Oregon; and Santa Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa 
Rancheria, California that this notice has been published.

    Dated: October 18, 2007.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E7-22669 Filed 11-19-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-S