[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 110 (Thursday, June 8, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37575-37576]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-12285]


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

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035980; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: Fine Arts Museums 
of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco 
intends to repatriate a cultural item that meets the definitions of 
both a sacred object and an object of cultural patrimony and that has a 
cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 
organizations in this notice. The cultural item was removed from Acoma, 
NM.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural item in this notice may occur on or 
after July 10, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Christina Hellmich, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 50 
Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco, CA 94118, telephone (415) 
750-2621, 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 
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. 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 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Description

    On an unknown date the one cultural item was removed from Acoma, 
NM. The cultural item is a shield. The provenance of the shield is 
documented by two art exhibitions and accompanying catalogues at the 
Art Institute of Chicago and the Aspen Center for the Visual arts in 
1977 and 1979, respectively. In 1977, Robert & Sharon Ashton of Santa 
Fe, NM, were listed as the owners of the shield. From 1979 to 1985, the 
shield was in the private collection of Jonathan and Philip M. Holstein 
of The Thundercloud Corporation, Aspen, CO. In 1985, the shield was 
sold to Thomas W. Weisel. It was in the Thomas W. Weisel Family 
Collection, Ross, CA, from 1985 until 2013, when it was gifted to the 
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. The shield is both a sacred object 
and an object of culturally patrimony.

Cultural Affiliation

    The cultural item in this notice is 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: art historical, oral 
traditional, other relevant information, and expert opinion.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco has determined 
that:
     The one cultural item described above is a specific 
ceremonial object needed by traditional Native American religious 
leaders for the practice of traditional Native American religions by 
their present-day adherents.
     The one cultural item described above has 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 item and the Pueblo of Acoma, 
New Mexico.

Requests for Repatriation

    Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural item 
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 item in this notice to a requestor may 
occur on or after July 10, 2023. If competing requests for repatriation 
are received, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco must determine the 
most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint 
repatriation of the cultural item are considered a single request and 
not competing requests. The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco is

[[Page 37576]]

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: May 31, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-12285 Filed 6-7-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P