[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 19 (Monday, January 30, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5912-5913]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-01846]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035190; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: Ralph Foster 
Museum, College of the Ozarks, Point Lookout, MO

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Ralph Foster Museum intends to 
repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of objects 
of cultural patrimony and that have a cultural affiliation with the 
Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The 
cultural items were removed from the State of Tennessee.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on 
or after March 1, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Thomas A. Debo, The Ralph Foster Museum, 237 Christian 
Court, Point Lookout, MO 65726, telephone (417) 690-2602, email 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published as part of the 
National Park Service's administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA. 
The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
Ralph Foster Museum. The National Park Service is not responsible for 
the determinations in this notice. Additional information on the 
determinations in this notice, including the results of consultation, 
can be found in the summary or related records held by the Ralph Foster 
Museum.

Description

    In the 1950s or early 1960s, three cultural items were removed from 
Hardeman, Fayette, or Shelby County, TN. Two of the items have ``Lucy 
Hatchie, Tennessee'' written on their undersides, giving the impression 
that they were removed from somewhere along the Loosahatchie River, 
which runs through Hardeman, Fayette, and Shelby Counties. The third 
item has ``Millington, Tennessee'' written on its underside, giving the 
impression that it was removed from Millington in Shelby County, TN. It 
is believed that Ralph Foster donated these three items as they are 
similar to other items he donated at the time. The three objects of 
cultural patrimony are one pottery possum effigy bowl, one pottery 
stirrup bottle, and one pottery turtle effigy.

[[Page 5913]]

Cultural Affiliation

    The cultural items in this notice are connected to one or more 
identifiable earlier groups, tribes, peoples, or cultures. There is a 
relationship of shared group identity between the identifiable earlier 
groups, tribes, peoples, or cultures and one or more Indian Tribes or 
Native Hawaiian organizations. The following types of information were 
used to reasonably trace the relationship: geographical and historical.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the Ralph Foster Museum has determined that:
     The three 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.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the cultural items and The Chickasaw 
Nation.

Requests for Repatriation

    Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items 
in this notice must be sent to the Responsible Official identified in 
ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation may be submitted by any lineal 
descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization not 
identified in this notice who shows, by a preponderance of the 
evidence, that the requestor is a lineal descendant or a culturally 
affiliated Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization.
    Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice to a requestor 
may occur on or after March 1, 2023. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the Ralph Foster Museum must determine the 
most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint 
repatriation of the cultural items are considered a single request and 
not competing requests. The Ralph Foster Museum is responsible for 
sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribe identified in this 
notice.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.8, 10.10, 
and 10.14.

    Dated: January 18, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-01846 Filed 1-27-23; 8:45 am]
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