[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 179 (Friday, September 16, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56973-56974]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-20056]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0034490; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Huguenot 
Historical Society, New Paltz, NY

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Huguenot Historical Society, in consultation with the 
appropriate Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, has 
determined that 36 cultural items listed in this notice meet the 
definition of unassociated funerary objects and 12 cultural items 
listed in this notice meet the definition of objects of cultural 
patrimony. 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 
Huguenot Historical Society. 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 Huguenot Historical Society 
at the address in this notice by October 17, 2022.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Liselle LaFrance, President, Huguenot 
Historical Society, 88 Huguenot Street, New Paltz, NY 12561, telephone 
(845) 255-1660, 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 48 cultural items under the 
control of the Huguenot Historical Society in New Paltz, Ulster County, 
NY, 36 of which meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects 
and 12 of which meet the definition of objects 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 Items

    In 1999, 2002, 2003, and 2018, 48 cultural items were removed from 
the grounds of the Huguenot Historical Society in New Paltz, Ulster 
County, NY. The items were excavated as part of field schools conducted 
on the grounds of Historic Huguenot Street by the State University of 
New York at New Paltz from 1999 through 2018. In 2020, the entire field 
school artifact collection came into the possession of Huguenot 
Historical Society. Of this collection, 36 of the items are 
unassociated funerary objects. They are two dog skeletons, 29 pottery 
fragments, four pieces of corn and nuts, and one Wampum bead. Of this 
collection, 12 of the items are objects of cultural patrimony. They are 
12 corn and bean seeds.
    Stockbridge Munsee Community, Wisconsin Tribal Historic 
Preservation representatives reviewed the collection with Huguenot 
Historical Society staff in May of 2022. Based on a review of the 
extant field school notes, the 36 unassociated funerary objects were 
identified as having been removed from burial contexts. Based on the 
collectively held traditional food domestication knowledge they 
contain, which knowledge continues to have ongoing historic importance, 
the 12 corn and bean seeds were identified as objects of cultural 
patrimony. According to related Lenape oral tradition, present-day New 
Paltz lay within Lenape geographic territory. The 1677 Huguenot-Lenape 
land agreement serves as further, documentary evidence of Lenape 
history in this location. Today the earlier Lenape are represented by 
the Delaware Nation, Oklahoma; the Delaware Tribe of Indians; and the 
Stockbridge Munsee Community, Wisconsin.

Determinations Made by the Historical Huguenot Society

    Officials of the Historical Huguenot Society have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 36 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(3)(D), the 12 cultural items 
described above have 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 
unassociated funerary objects and objects of cultural patrimony and the 
Delaware Nation,

[[Page 56974]]

Oklahoma; Delaware Tribe of Indians; and the Stockbridge Munsee 
Community, Wisconsin (hereafter referred to as ``The Tribes'').

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 Liselle LaFrance, President, Huguenot 
Historical Society, 88 Huguenot Street, New Paltz, NY 12561, telephone 
(845) 255-1660, email [email protected], by October 17, 2022. 
After that date, if no additional claimants have come forward, transfer 
of control of the unassociated funerary objects and objects of cultural 
patrimony to The Tribes may proceed.
    The Huguenot Historical Society is responsible for notifying The 
Tribes that this notice has been published.

    Dated: September 1, 2022.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2022-20056 Filed 9-15-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P