[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 101 (Friday, May 23, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30151-30152]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-11576]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate a Cultural Item: The Nelson 
Gallery Foundation, Kansas City, MO

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, of the intent 
to repatriate a cultural item in the possession of The Nelson Gallery 
Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 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 (d)(3). 
The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the cultural 
item. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations in this notice.
    The cultural item is a Prayer Stick (2002.5.1). It is carved from 
maple wood, measuring 6 3/4 inches by 1 1/2 inches by 1/4 inches. The 
central length of the object consists of an elongated, softly curved 
diamond shape terminating at the upper and lower ends in square 
configurations, surmounted at the top by a small diamond-shaped 
projection. Occupying the upper square of the front surface are incised 
images of a house and four trees. Below, occupying the length of the 
central panel, are three identical sets of carved symbols. All of these 
features conform to the classic form of other documented Kickapoo 
prayer sticks. Printed in ink on the reverse side are old catalogue 
numbers, E89A and M805A.
    In 1939, the prayer stick was collected on the Potawatomi 
Reservation in Kansas from Martha Jackson, a Kickapoo woman who 
apparently married into the Potawatomi tribe, by Floyd Schultz, a 
prominent Clay Center, KS, businessman and civic leader, who was also 
an amateur archeologist and ethnologist. Research suggests that Mr. 
Schultz obtained the prayer stick legally and ethically from Mrs. 
Jackson. Sometime within the ten years following Mr. Schultz's death in 
1951, the cultural item was sold by his widow to Pat Read, an Indian 
trader and art dealer based in Lawrence, KS, as part of a larger 
ethnographic collection. Mr. Read sold the piece in the mid-1960s to 
Mr. and Mrs. Larry Frank, Arroyo Hondo, NM. In 2002, The Nelson Gallery 
Foundation, which also does business as The Nelson-Atkins Museum of 
Art, purchased the cultural item from Mr. and Mrs. Frank.
    During consultation, members of the Kennekuk Church of the Kickapoo 
Tribe of Indians of the Kickapoo Reservation in Kansas presented 
evidence that the prayer stick met NAGPRA's definition as a ``sacred 
object'' and is needed for the practice of a traditional Native 
American religion by present-day adherents.
    Officials of The Nelson Gallery Foundation have determined that, 
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(C), the one cultural item described 
above is a

[[Page 30152]]

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 Nelson 
Gallery Foundation 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 sacred object and the Kickapoo Tribe of 
Indians of the Kickapoo Reservation in Kansas.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the sacred object should contact Gaylord 
Torrence, Fred and Virginia Merrill Curator of American Indian Art, The 
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525 Oak St., Kansas City, MO 64111, 
telephone (816) 751-0427, before June 23, 2008. Repatriation of the 
sacred object to the Kickapoo Tribe of Indians of the Kickapoo 
Reservation in Kansas may proceed after that date if no additional 
claimants come forward.
    The Nelson Gallery Foundation is responsible for notifying the 
Kickapoo Tribe of Indians of the Kickapoo Reservation in Kansas that 
this notice has been published.

    Dated: April 23, 2008.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-11576 Filed 5-22-08; 8:45 am]
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