[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 62 (Wednesday, April 2, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14458-14459]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-05605]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0039810; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intended Repatriation: Mount Holyoke College Art 
Museum, South Hadley, MA

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 Mount Holyoke College Art Museum intends 
to repatriate a certain cultural item that meets the definition of an 
object of cultural patrimony and that have 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 May 2, 2025.

ADDRESSES: Abigail Hoover, Associate Director of Registration and 
Collections, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, Lower Lake Road, South 
Hadley, MA 01075, telephone (413) 538-2492, 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 
Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, and additional information on the 
determinations in this notice, including the results of consultation, 
can be found in the summary or related records. The National Park 
Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.

Abstract of Information Available

    One cultural item has been requested for repatriation. The object 
of cultural patrimony is a beaded jacket.
    The object in this notice is part of the Joseph Allen Skinner 
Museum collection, which was donated to the Trustees of Mount Holyoke 
College by Skinner after his death in 1946. Like many of the objects in 
the Skinner collection, there is no extant provenance information, and 
it is unclear when these objects were acquired, though pictures show 
the display of these objects by Skinner as early as 1934.
    The jacket in the Skinner Museum collection is imbued with ongoing 
historical, traditional, and/or cultural importance to the Flandreau 
Santee Sioux Tribe. The jacket is embroidered with a widely practiced 
style of beadwork using culturally significant colors and designs.

[[Page 14459]]

    Based on the above definitions and a general knowledge of these 
objects possessing cultural significance, the claim for repatriation to 
the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe will be honored.

Determinations

    The Mount Holyoke College Art Museum has determined that:
     The one object of cultural patrimony described in this 
notice has ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural importance 
central to the Native American group, including any constituent sub-
group (such as a band, clan, lineage, ceremonial society, or other 
subdivision), according to the Native American traditional knowledge of 
an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization.
     There is a reasonable connection between the cultural 
items described in this notice and the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of 
South Dakota.

Requests for Repatriation

    Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural item 
in this notice must be sent to the authorized representative identified 
in this notice under 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 May 2, 2025. If competing requests for repatriation 
are received, the Mount Holyoke College Art 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 Mount Holyoke College Art Museum is 
responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and 
Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this notice and to any 
other consulting parties.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3004 and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9.

    Dated: March 21, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-05605 Filed 4-1-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P