[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 112 (Wednesday, June 10, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Page 35439]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-12547]



[[Page 35439]]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0030254; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Minnesota Museum 
of American Art, St. Paul, MN

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Minnesota Museum of American Art, in consultation with the 
appropriate Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, has 
determined that the one cultural item listed in this notice meets the 
definition of a sacred object and an object of cultural patrimony. 
Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to claim 
this cultural item should submit a written request to the Minnesota 
Museum of American Art. If no additional claimants come forward, 
transfer of control of the cultural item 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 this cultural item should submit a written request with 
information in support of the claim to the Minnesota Museum of American 
Art at the address in this notice by July 10, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Kristin Makholm, Executive Director, Minnesota Museum of 
American Art, 350 Robert Street N, St. Paul, MN 55101, telephone (651) 
492-0309, 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 a cultural item under the 
control of the Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, MN, that 
meets the definition of a sacred object and an object of cultural 
patrimony 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 Item

    Sometime between 1926 and 1936, while he was superintendent of 
schools in Wrangell, AK, Axel Rasmussen collected a killer whale shirt. 
After his death in 1945, his collection of Northwest Coast objects was 
dispersed. The collection was reassembled by Earl Stendahl, and part of 
it, including the killer whale shirt, was sold to the Portland Art 
Museum in Portland, OR. In 1957, the Minnesota Museum of American Art, 
formerly the Saint Paul Gallery, purchased the killer whale shirt from 
the Portland Art Museum. The killer whale shirt is both a sacred object 
and an object of cultural patrimony.
    Documentation provided by the Central Council of the Tlingit & 
Haida Indian Tribes, acting on behalf of itself and the Wrangell 
Cooperative Association--specifically the Tlingit clan 
Naanya.aay[iacute]--confirms the Tlingit identity of this cultural item 
and the clan's rightful custodianship of it. The Central Council 
described how the clan came to own the name and crest killer whale 
Sheiyksh, and demonstrated the traditional uncle-to-nephew hereditary 
transfer of the item going back to the first Chief Shakes. The shirt 
itself has Tahltan style beadwork on the collar, signifying that it is 
from the Stikine and Wrangell area. The Central Council also provided 
video evidence of Chief Shakes VII wearing the killer whale shirt in a 
potlach on June 3-4, 1940. The shirt has ongoing historical, 
traditional, or cultural importance for the Tlingit people, and under 
the Tlingit system of communal property ownership, it could not be 
alienated, appropriated, or conveyed by any individual. The killer 
whale shirt bonds the Tlingit people to their ancestors, symbolizing 
the people's relationship to the being depicted on it. Incorporating 
the crest design, it provides a physical form in which spiritual beings 
manifest their presence. In addition, the shirt is needed for current 
and ongoing cultural and religious practices.

Determinations Made by the Minnesota Museum of American Art

    Officials of the Minnesota Museum of American Art have determined 
that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(C), the one cultural item 
described above is a specific ceremonial object 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(3)(D), the one cultural item 
described above has ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural 
importance central to the Native American group or culture itself, 
rather than property owned by an individual.
     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 object of cultural patrimony and the Central Council of the 
Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes and the Wrangell Cooperative Association.

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 Kristin Makholm, Executive Director, 
Minnesota Museum of American Art, 350 Robert Street N, St. Paul, MN 
55101, telephone (651) 492-0309, email [email protected], by July 10, 
2020. After that date, if no additional claimants have come forward, 
transfer of control of the sacred object and object of cultural 
patrimony to the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes 
and the Wrangell Cooperative Association may proceed.
    The Minnesota Museum of American Art is responsible for notifying 
Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes and the Wrangell 
Cooperative Association that this notice has been published.

    Dated: April 28, 2020.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2020-12547 Filed 6-9-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-52-P