[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 244 (Friday, December 18, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 82506-82507]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-27873]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0031241; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Wistariahurst Museum, Holyoke, MA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Wistariahurst Museum has completed an inventory of human 
remains and associated funerary objects, 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 associated funerary objects 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 and associated funerary objects should submit a written request 
to the Wistariahurst Museum. If no additional requestors come forward, 
transfer of control of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects 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 and associated 
funerary objects should submit a written request with information in 
support of the request to the Wistariahurst Museum at the address in 
this notice by January 19, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Penni Martorell, Wistariahurst Museum, 238 Cabot Street, 
Holyoke, MA 01040, telephone (413) 322-5660, 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 and 
associated funerary objects under the control of the Wistariahurst 
Museum, Holyoke, MA. The human remains and associated funerary objects 
were removed from Holyoke Highlands, 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 and associated funerary objects. The National 
Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.

Consultation

    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the 
Wistariahurst Museum professional staff in consultation with 
representatives of the Stockbridge Munsee Community, Wisconsin. The 
Delaware Tribe of Indians; Mohegan Tribe of Indians of Connecticut 
(previously listed as Mohegan Indian Tribe of Connecticut); and the 
Narragansett Indian Tribe were invited to consult but did not 
participate (hereafter, all the above Indian Tribes are referred to as 
``The Consulted and Invited Tribes'').

History and Description of the Remains

    In March of 1904, human remains representing, at minimum, one 
individual were removed from Holyoke Highlands in Hampden County, MA. 
The Holyoke Water Power Company uncovered the human remains while 
excavating a building site. A newspaper article in the Holyoke 
Telegram-Transcript of March 9, 1904 describes the circumstances of 
this discovery:

    One of the most important archaeological discoveries in this 
Vicinity was made yesterday by workmen of the Holyoke Water Power 
Company who in making some excavations in this city, unearthed what 
is supposed to have been the remains of an Indian warrior, long 
since dead. Undoubtedly the body of the deceased Indian had lain in 
the ground for several hundred years as it was entirely decomposed; 
so that not even the bones remained intact with the exception of two 
small fragments, one of which is supposed to be part of a jaw-bone 
and the other is so small that its exact kind cannot be determined.
    In the same place were found a necklace of copper and shell 
beads about a foot in length. The copper beads were one-fourth to a 
half inch in diameter and the copper used in the composition of the 
beads showed that they were made of sheet metal which had been 
rolled into shape. As the Indians did no smelting the copper must 
have come from the west where it is found in large quantities than 
in this part of the country. The shells used in the beads were 
oblong-shaped, about 1\1/2\ inches long and half an inch in width 
and were a sort of bone composition. The copper and shell beads 
alternated every fifth

[[Page 82507]]

bead being of shell followed by four copper ones. In the excavation 
were also a few small conch shells and two tubes of purplish-red 
sand-stone, one about 10 inches long and one inch in diameter and 
the other six inches long and the same diameter. . .
    The articles discovered, however, will be photographed and the 
black substance in the tubes will be analyzed. Through the 
generosity of the Holyoke Water Power Company, all of these 
important relics have been presented to the Holyoke library 
association and are now in their possession.

    Under the April 1980 Agreement for Judgment in City of Holyoke v. 
Holyoke Public Library Corporation (Civil Action No. 75-2093), the 
Indian and Natural History Collections were deeded to the City of 
Holyoke, of which the Wistariahurst Museum is a department. No known 
individual was identified. The 53 associated funerary objects are two 
steatite tube pipes (one pipe is broken), 43 copper beads, one bone 
bead, five shell beads, one small bone fragment, and one animal jawbone 
fragment. With the exception of the beads, all the associated funerary 
objects are mounted on an orange plaque.
    In her article Native Land Use and Settlements in Northeastern 
Woodlands and Schaghticoke and Points North: Wobanaki Resistance and 
Persistence, Native American scholar Marge Bruchac suggests that many 
Connecticut River Valley Tribes were forced out of the area, and as a 
consequence, they merged with other Indian Tribes. So, for example, the 
Nipmuc could have moved in with the Schaghticoke and Stockbridge 
Munsee. Holyoke, located on the western side of the Connecticut River, 
would thus have lain at the convergence of these many tribal groups.

Determinations Made by the Wistariahurst Museum

    Officials of the Wistariahurst Museum 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(3)(A), the 53 objects described 
in this notice 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.
     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 associated funerary objects 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 and associated 
funerary objects should submit a written request with information in 
support of the request to Penni Martorell, Wistariahurst Museum, 238 
Cabot Street, Holyoke, MA 01040, telephone (413) 322-5660, email 
[email protected], by January 19, 2021. After that date, if no 
additional requestors have come forward, transfer of control of the 
human remains and associated funerary objects to the Stockbridge Munsee 
Community, Wisconsin may proceed.
    The Wistariahurst Museum is responsible for notifying The Consulted 
and Invited Tribes that this notice has been published.

    Dated: December 9, 2020.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2020-27873 Filed 12-17-20; 8:45 am]
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