[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 242 (Tuesday, December 19, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 87798-87799]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-27788]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037075; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Grand Rapids Public Museum, Grand 
Rapids, MI

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 Grand Rapids Public Museum, Michigan has 
completed an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects 
and has determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the 
human remains and associated funerary objects and Indian Tribes or 
Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The human remains and 
associated funerary objects were removed from San Joaquin County, CA.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after January 18, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Alex Forist, Chief Curator, Grand Rapids Public Museum. 272 
Pearl Street NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504, telephone (616) 929-1809, 
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 
Grand Rapids Public 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 inventory or related records held 
by the Grand Rapids Public Museum.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, two individuals were 
removed from San Joaquin County, CA. In the early 1880s, Mr. E. D. 
Zimmerman, an amateur archeologist, excavated a burial mound at the 
Leon Ranch in Stockton. At an unknown date, these human remains (and 
associated funerary objects) were purchased by Herman J. Rush (b. 
1902--d. 1965), a collector from Belvidere, New Jersey from a sale of 
Zimmerman's collection. In the 1960s, Dr. Ruth Herrick, a collector in 
Grand Rapids, Michigan, purchased these human remains (and associated 
funerary objects) from Rush, and in 1974, the Grand Rapids Public 
Museum acquired them from Herrick by bequest. The human remains consist 
of one glass vial containing cremated human hair and one vial 
containing cremated cerebral matter. The 18 associated funerary objects 
are one burned shell, one lot consisting of cremated seeds, one lot 
consisting of burned pinon nuts, two lots consisting of wampum, one 
vial containing vermillion, one lot consisting of red paint, one lot 
consisting of burned beads, one bone gouge, one awl, one shell pendant, 
one Medicine Man's hollow bone tube, one hollow bone tube, one spear, 
three bone fish skewers, and one bone fish gorge.

Cultural Affiliation

    The human remains and associated funerary objects 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: archeological, geographical, historical, and oral 
traditional.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the Grand Rapids Public Museum has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of two individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 18 objects described in this notice are reasonably 
believed to have

[[Page 87799]]

been placed with or near individual human remains at the time of death 
or later as part of the death rite or ceremony.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the human remains and associated funerary 
objects described in this notice and the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-
Wuk Indians of California; California Valley Miwok Tribe, California; 
Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria, California; 
Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California; Federated 
Indians of Graton Rancheria, California; Guidiville Rancheria of 
California; Ione Band of Miwok Indians of California; Middletown 
Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California; Picayune Rancheria of the 
Chukchansi Indians of California; Santa Rosa Indian Community of the 
Santa Rosa Rancheria, California; Shingle Springs Band of Miwok 
Indians, Shingle Springs Rancheria (Verona Tract), California; Table 
Mountain Rancheria; Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River 
Reservation, California; Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians of the 
Tuolumne Rancheria of California; United Auburn Indian Community of the 
Auburn Rancheria, California; and the Wilton Rancheria, California.

Requests for Repatriation

    Written requests for repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the 
Responsible Official identified in ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation 
may be submitted by:
    1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes identified in this notice 
and, if joined to a request from one or more of the Indian Tribes, the 
Muwekma Ohlone Indian Tribe of the SF Bay Area, California; Nashville 
Enterprise Miwok-Maidu-Nishinam Tribe, California; North Valley Yokuts 
Tribe, California; Wuksache Indian Tribe/Eshom Valley Band, California; 
and the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation.
    2. 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 human remains and associated funerary objects 
in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after January 18, 2024. 
If competing requests for repatriation are received, the Grand Rapids 
Public Museum must determine the most appropriate requestor prior to 
repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects are considered a single request and not 
competing requests. The Grand Rapids Public Museum is responsible for 
sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes identified in this 
notice.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9, 10.10, 
and 10.14.

    Dated: December 8, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-27788 Filed 12-18-23; 8:45 am]
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