[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 121 (Tuesday, June 24, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35789-35790]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-14751]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-15867; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: City of 
Bellingham/Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The City of Bellingham/Whatcom Museum (Whatcom Museum), in 
consultation with the appropriate Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian 
organizations, has determined that the cultural items listed in this 
notice meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects. Lineal 
descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian 
organization not identified in this notice that wish to claim these 
cultural items should submit a written request to Whatcom Museum. If no 
additional claimants come forward, transfer of control of the cultural 
items to the lineal descendants, Indian tribes, or Native Hawaiian 
organizations stated in this notice may proceed.

DATES: Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or 
Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
claim these cultural items should submit a written request with 
information in support of the claim to Whatcom Museum at the address in 
this notice by July 24, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Rebecca L. Hutchins, Curator of Collections, Whatcom Museum, 
121 Prospect Street, Bellingham, WA 98225, telephone (360) 778-8955, 
email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 under the 
control of Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA, 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 agency that has control of the Native 
American cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.

History and Description of the Cultural Items

    On a series of unknown dates in 1898, 1 lot of glass seed and pound 
beads and 1 metal button were removed by Alan McGraw, a local school 
teacher, from what was described as ``a Umatilla burying [sic] ground 
near old Fort Walla Walla'' on the Columbia River in Walla Walla 
County, WA. Documentation indicates these objects were gathered during 
the year 1898, ``one by one over a period of months'' and that ``the 
Indians said they had been traded by the Hudson Bay fur traders about 
1813. They had been buried with their owners and exposed by shifting 
sands.'' In 1950, these items were loaned to Whatcom Museum by Barbara 
Royal Blood and, in 2008, full ownership was obtained by Whatcom Museum 
using the process outlined in the Revised Code of Washington 63.26.
    The unassociated funerary objects include 1 lot of glass seed and 
pound

[[Page 35790]]

beads and 1 unadorned metal button and are represented by catalogue 
numbers 1950.11.11 through 1950.11.13. These beads and button are 
consistent in material and style to those used in exchange along the 
Columbia River starting in the early 19th century. The provenance of 
these objects within the historically documented territory of the 
Umatilla tribe, now part of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla 
Indian Reservation (previously listed as the Confederated Tribes of the 
Umatilla Reservation, Oregon), which also includes the Cayuse and Walla 
Walla tribes, supports the claim of cultural affiliation.

Determinations Made By Whatcom Museum

    Officials of Whatcom Museum have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 2 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.
     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 
Umatilla Indian Reservation (previously listed as the Confederated 
Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon).

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to claim 
these cultural items should submit a written request with information 
in support of the claim to Rebecca L. Hutchins, Curator of Collections, 
Whatcom Museum, 121 Prospect Street, Bellingham, WA 98225, telephone 
(360) 778-8955, email [email protected], by July 24, 2014. After that 
date, if no additional claimants have come forward, transfer of control 
of the unassociated funerary objects to the Confederated Tribes of the 
Umatilla Indian Reservation (previously listed as the Confederated 
Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon) may proceed.
    Whatcom Museum is responsible for notifying the Confederated Tribes 
of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (previously listed as the 
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon) that this 
notice has been published.

    Dated: May 22, 2014.
David Tarler,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2014-14751 Filed 6-23-14; 8:45 am]
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