[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 68 (Monday, April 12, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19009-19010]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-07407]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0031672; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Bixby Memorial 
Free Library, Vergennes, VT

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Bixby Memorial Free Library, 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 the Bixby Memorial Free Library. 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 the Bixby Memorial Free Library 
at the address in this notice by May 12, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Patricia Reid, Bixby Memorial Free Library, 258 Main Street, 
Vergennes, VT 05491, telephone (802) 877-2211, 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 Bixby Memorial Free Library, Vergennes, VT, that meet 
the definition of unassociated funerary objects under 25 U.S.C. 3001.

[[Page 19010]]

    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

    Sometime before 1968, three cultural items were removed from 
Tennessee. In 1968, these items were given to the Bixby Memorial Free 
Library by Ernst Bilhuber, a Euro-American collector of Native American 
objects and resident of the Vergennes area. The three items are one 
bowl portion of a Bird Effigy Pipe (inventory number 1968.1.20), one 
Fish Effigy Bowl (inventory number 1968.1.134), and one Chickasaw Red 
Bird Effigy Footed Water Jug (inventory number 1968.1.140).
    The Bird Effigy Pipe is made of brown sandstone. The pipe is carved 
to resemble the head of a bird, and the bowl is carved into the top of 
the head. A stem for smoking would have been attached to the bird's 
neck. The Fish Effigy Bowl is made of Mississippian grayware. The 
object is round with a fish head protruding from one end and fish tail 
protruding from the opposite side. There are also several ``fins'' 
protruding from the sides of the bowl.
    The Chickasaw people have a link to the southeastern United States, 
including Tennessee, as documented in the Treaty of 1816. During 
consultation with representatives of The Chickasaw Nation, the three 
objects listed in this notice were recognized by the Chickasaw team as 
funerary in nature, and similar to previously repatriated associated 
funerary objects that had been removed from ancestral burials in their 
homelands, which encompass the Tennessee area. Consequently, the Bixby 
Memorial Free Library has determined that a relationship of shared 
group identity can reasonably be traced between The Chickasaw Nation 
and the Muskogean linguistic cultures connected with the items listed 
in this notice.

Determinations Made by the Bixby Memorial Free Library

    Officials of the Bixby Memorial Free Library have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the three 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 Chickasaw Nation.

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 Patricia Reid, Bixby Memorial Free Library, 
258 Main Street, Vergennes, VT 05491, telephone (802) 877-2211, email 
[email protected], by May 12, 2021. After that date, if no 
additional claimants have come forward, transfer of control of the 
unassociated funerary objects to The Chickasaw Nation may proceed.
    The Bixby Memorial Free Library is responsible for notifying The 
Chickasaw Nation that this notice has been published.

    Dated: March 26, 2021.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2021-07407 Filed 4-9-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P