[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 150 (Wednesday, August 5, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46595-46596]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-19238]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-18366; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP15.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Portland Art 
Museum, Portland, OR

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Portland Art 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 sacred 
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 the 
Portland Art 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.

[[Page 46596]]


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 the Portland Art Museum at the 
address in this notice by September 4, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Deana Dartt, Curator of Native American Art, Portland Art 
Museum, 1219 SW. Park Ave., Portland, OR 97209, telephone (503) 276-
4294, 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 the Portland Art Museum that meet the definition of 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 Native 
American cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.

History and Description of the Cultural Items

    Between 1970 and 1990, 18 medicine bundles were removed from the 
Crow Indian Reservation in Crow Agency, MT. The bundles were sold over 
two decades by Native antiquities and arts dealers to collector 
Elizabeth Cole Butler. Butler donated them to the museum beginning in 
the 1980s and until her death in 2004. The 18 bundles are all 
considered sacred objects.
    The 18 medicine bundles were first identified as Crow by the 
dealers that sold them to Butler. In 1994 Crow tribal representative 
John Pretty-on-Top responded to the NAGPRA summary of Crow objects sent 
to the Crow Tribe of Montana in 1993. Pretty-on-Top concluded that the 
bundles would not be of interest to the tribe as a whole since bundles 
are exclusively owned by individuals. In August 2014 Timothy McCleary 
was consulted about the bundles. On September 17, 2014, McCleary 
presented the issue of the 18 bundles held by the Portland Art Museum 
to the Crow Cultural Committee. The Crow Cultural Committee determined 
that a claim for the 18 sacred objects should be made by the Crow Tribe 
of Montana.

Determinations Made by the Portland Art Museum

    Officials of the Portland Art Museum have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(C), the 18 cultural items 
described above are specific ceremonial objects needed by traditional 
Native American religious leaders for the practice of traditional 
Native American religions by their present-day adherents.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship of 
shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the sacred 
objects and the Crow Tribe of Montana.

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 Deana Dartt, Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW. 
Park Ave., Portland, OR 97205, telephone (503) 276-4294, email 
[email protected], by September 4, 2015. After that date, if no 
additional claimants have come forward, transfer of control of the 
sacred objects to the Crow Tribe of Montana may proceed.
    The Portland Art Museum is responsible for notifying the Crow Tribe 
of Montana that this notice has been published.

    Dated: June 29, 2015.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2015-19238 Filed 8-4-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-12-P