[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 138 (Tuesday, July 20, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42119-42120]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-17478]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: High Desert 
Museum, Bend, OR

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 cultural items in the possession of the High Desert 
Museum, Bend, OR, that meet the definition of ``unassociated funerary 
objects'' or ``sacred 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 agency that has control of the cultural 
items. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations in this notice.
    In 1990, Native American cultural items were donated to the High 
Desert Museum by the Roger J. Bounds Foundation, in the form of the 
Doris Swayze Bounds Collection. Between the 1950s and 1970s, Doris 
Bounds collected the majority of the items through purchases and gifts. 
There are seven objects that meet the definition of ``unassociated 
funerary objects'' or ``sacred objects.'' The three unassociated 
funerary objects are one pair of moccasins, one single moccasin, and 
one beaded necklace. The four sacred objects are one beaded fetish 
lizard-shaped object, one whistle with feathered adornment, one 
headdress, and one scalp lock.
    Upon the initial accession of the objects into the High Desert 
Museum's collection in 1990, a number of scholars and Native American 
representatives from Columbia Plateau, Great Basin, and Plains tribes, 
identified the seven objects as being culturally sensitive or specific 
grave items of the Sioux or Assiniboine. Since 2004, the High Desert 
Museum has consulted with the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort 
Peck Indian Reservation, Montana. During consultation, the NAGPRA 
representative of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck 
Indian

[[Page 42120]]

Reservation, Montana, identified the objects as being either funerary 
or sacred objects, and culturally affiliated to the tribe. The High 
Desert Museum's collection records confirm that the objects are from 
the Poplar, MT, region and culturally affiliated specifically to the 
Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, 
Montana.
    Officials of the High Desert Museum have determined that, pursuant 
to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the three cultural items described above 
(unassociated funerary objects) 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 High 
Desert Museum also have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 
3001(3)(C), the four cultural items described above (sacred objects) 
are specific ceremonial objects needed by traditional Native American 
religious leaders for the practice of traditional Native American 
religions by their present-day adherents. Lastly, officials of the High 
Desert Museum 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 sacred objects and 
the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, 
Montana.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary objects and/or 
sacred objects should contact Tracy Johnson, Curator of Collections and 
Exhibits, High Desert Museum, 59800 South Highway 97, Bend, OR 97702, 
telephone (541) 382-4754, before August 19, 2010. Repatriation of the 
unassociated funerary objects and sacred objects to the Assiniboine and 
Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana, may proceed 
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The High Desert Museum is responsible for notifying the Assiniboine 
and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana, that 
this notice has been published.

    Dated: July 9, 2010.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2010-17478 Filed 7-19-10; 8:45 am]
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