[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 38 (Monday, February 26, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14093-14094]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-03800]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037457; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: James B. and 
Rosalyn L. Pick Museum of Anthropology at Northern Illinois University, 
DeKalb, IL (Formerly Anthropology Museum at Northern Illinois 
University)

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 James B. and Rosalyn L. Pick Museum of 
Anthropology at Northern Illinois University (Pick Museum) intends to 
repatriate a cultural item that meets the definition of a sacred object 
and that has a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native 
Hawaiian organizations in this notice.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural item in this notice may occur on or 
after March 27, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Christy DeLair, Museum Director, James B. and Rosalyn L. 
Pick Museum of Anthropology at Northern Illinois University, 1425 W 
Lincoln Hwy., DeKalb, IL 60015, telephone (815) 753-0230, email 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published as part of the

[[Page 14094]]

National Park Service's administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA. 
The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
Pick 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 Pick Museum.

Description

    In 1969, the Pick Museum purchased a medicine face mask (catalog 
no. 69-27-50) from Kohlberg's in Denver, CO. The Pick Museum records 
identify the medicine face as Seneca. The medicine face mask is a 
sacred object.

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: anthropological information, 
historical information, oral tradition, and expert opinion.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the Pick Museum 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.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the cultural item and the Tonawanda Band 
of Seneca.

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 March 27, 2024. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the Pick Museum 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 Pick Museum is responsible for sending a 
copy of this notice to the Indian Tribe identified in this notice.
    This notice was submitted before the effective date of the revised 
regulations (88 FR 86452, December 13, 2023, effective January 12, 
2024). As the notice conforms to the mandatory format of the Federal 
Register and includes the required information, the National Park 
Service is publishing this notice as submitted.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3004, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9.

    Dated: February 16, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-03800 Filed 2-23-24; 8:45 am]
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