[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 162 (Thursday, August 20, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51488-51489]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-18229]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0030663; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Mount Holyoke College, South 
Hadley, MA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Mount Holyoke College has completed an inventory of human 
remains in consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes or Native 
Hawaiian organizations, and has determined that there is a cultural 
affiliation between the human remains and present-day Indian Tribes or 
Native Hawaiian organizations. Lineal descendants or representatives of 
any Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this 
notice that wish to request transfer of control of these human remains 
should submit a written request to Mount Holyoke College. If no 
additional requestors come forward, transfer of control of the human 
remains 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 
request transfer of control of these human remains should submit a 
written request with information in support of the request to Mount 
Holyoke College at the address in this notice by September 21, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Aaron F. Miller, Mount Holyoke College, 50 College Street, 
South Hadley, MA 01075-1499, telephone (413) 538-3394, 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. 3003, of the completion of an inventory of human remains under 
the control of Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA. The human 
remains were removed from an unidentified location in the vicinity of 
Holyoke, Hampden County, MA.
    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 human remains. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.

Consultation

    From 2015 to 2020, consultation on these human remains was carried 
out between representatives of Mount Holyoke College (Sonya Stephens, 
President of Mount Holyoke College, Lenore Reilly, Senior Advisor to 
the President, and Aaron Miller, Associate Curator of Visual and 
Material Culture and NAGPRA Coordinator at the Mount Holyoke College 
Art Museum) and representatives of the Stockbridge Munsee Community, 
Wisconsin; Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah); and the following 
non-federally recognized Indian groups: the Abenaki Nation of New 
Hampshire; Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook-Abenaki People; Elnu Abenaki 
Tribe; and the Webster/Dudley Band of the Chaubunagungamaug Nipmuck 
Indians (hereafter referred to as ``The Consulted Tribes and Groups'').

History and Description of the Remains

    Sometime prior to 1918, human remains representing, at minimum, one 
individual were removed from an unidentified location in the vicinity 
of Holyoke, Hampden County, MA. On January 10, 1918, Alice E. Hunt and 
George E. Hunt of Holyoke, MA, donated the human remains to Mount 
Holyoke College. A letter from the Hunts to Professor Turner mentions 
the skeleton ``of a squaw aged 35 years.'' A 1948 article in the Mount 
Holyoke News referenced the human remains as being ``an Indian Squaw 
about 150 years old'' and given by ``a family of doctors in Holyoke who 
had had her in the family for generations.'' In 2006, an osteologist 
examined the human remains and concluded that they belong to a female 
20-23 years old, and are of probable Native American ancestry. No known 
individual was identified. No associated funerary objects are present.
    In Holyoke and the surrounding area, a great deal of archeological 
excavation took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, during 
which multiple graves were exhumed. Based on historical and oral 
traditional information, the area of Holyoke was occupied by the 
Stockbridge Munsee Community, Wisconsin.

[[Page 51489]]

Determinations Made by Mount Holyoke College

    Officials of Mount Holyoke College have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of one individual of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship of 
shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the Native 
American human remains and the Stockbridge Munsee Community, Wisconsin.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
request transfer of control of these human remains should submit a 
written request with information in support of the request to Aaron F. 
Miller, Mount Holyoke College, 50 College Street, South Hadley, MA 
01075-1499, telephone (413) 538-3394, email [email protected], by 
September 21, 2020. After that date, if no additional requestors have 
come forward, transfer of control of the human remains to the 
Stockbridge Munsee Community, Wisconsin may proceed.
    Mount Holyoke College is responsible for notifying The Consulted 
Tribes and Groups that this notice has been published.

    Dated: July 21, 2020.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2020-18229 Filed 8-19-20; 8:45 am]
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