Notice2021-18272
Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
August 25, 2021
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
The State Museum of Pennsylvania, in consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, has determined that the cultural items listed in this notice meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects. Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to claim these cultural items should submit a written request to The State Museum of Pennsylvania. If no additional claimants come forward, transfer of control of the cultural items to the lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, or Native Hawaiian organizations stated in this notice may proceed.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 162 (Wednesday, August 25, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 162 (Wednesday, August 25, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47518-47519]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-18272]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0032457; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: The State Museum
of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The State Museum of Pennsylvania, in consultation with the
appropriate Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, has
determined that the cultural items listed in this notice meet the
definition of unassociated funerary objects. Lineal descendants or
representatives of any Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization not
identified in this notice that wish to claim these cultural items
should submit a written request to The State Museum of Pennsylvania. If
no additional claimants come forward, transfer of control of the
cultural items to the lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, or Native
Hawaiian organizations stated in this notice may proceed.
DATES: Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or
Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to
claim these cultural items should submit a written request with
information in support of the claim to The State Museum of Pennsylvania
at the address in this notice by September 24, 2021.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Kurt W. Carr, The State Museum of
Pennsylvania, 300 North Street, Harrisburg, PA 17120-0024, telephone
(717) 783-9926, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#e8838b899a9aa89889c68f879e"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="412a222033330131206f262e37">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is here given in accordance with the
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25
U.S.C. 3005, of the intent to repatriate cultural items under the
control of The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA, that meet
the definition of unassociated funerary objects under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003(d)(3). The
determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the
museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the Native
American cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible
for the determinations in this notice.
History and Description of the Cultural Items
In October of 1935, 21 cultural items were removed from the
Northbrook Cemetery (36CH0061) in Chester County, PA. These items were
received by The State Museum of Pennsylvania as part of the Charles and
Theodore Dutt collection in 1982. The Dutt brothers collected artifacts
on the surface of the ground in the Brandywine, Chester Creek, and
Ridley Creek drainages. They reported finding the Northbrook Cemetery
site because of a ground hog disturbance which yielded pieces of
copper, a glass bead, and bone fragments. An account of the recovery is
reported in C. A. Weslager, Red Men on the Brandywine, pp. 134-136
(1953). On October 19, 1935, the Dutts returned to the site with the
landowner, Mr. Peterson, to further investigate the area. A burial was
discovered along with additional beads, broken copper rings and nails.
The skeletal remains are not present in the collections of The State
Museum of Pennsylvania, and there is no information showing that they
were ever removed from the burial. The 21 unassociated funerary objects
are 13 white glass beads, three iron nails, one copper wire dangler
wrapped around hair (no determination if animal or human), and four
fragments of copper rings.
Archeological and archival evidence suggest that the materials were
associated with historic Delaware (Lenape) burials. Historic documents
indicate that in 1731, James Logan provided an area along either side
of the Brandywine Creek to be retained by Indians occupying this
region. The Delaware entered into numerous agreements with the
Commonwealth's colonial government and are recognized as the primary
tribal group for this region.
In 1978, 135 cultural items were removed from the Montgomery site
(36CH0060), Chester County, PA, by Marshall Becker of West Chester
University with the permission of the landowner. The Montgomery site is
a Historic period site (A.D. 1700-1733). The collection was the product
of a joint research project conducted by West Chester University and
The State Museum of Pennsylvania in Wallace Township, Chester County,
PA. Archeological and archival evidence suggest that these 135 objects
are associated with the Delaware Tribes. The 135 unassociated funerary
objects are 131 fragments of organic fiber, one iron nail fragment, and
three unmodified quartzite lithic fragments. Oral tradition,
ethnohistorical, and archeological evidence place a ``Brandywine band''
of the Lenape (Delaware) at the site ca. A.D. 1730.
Settlements documented in Chester County, include Okehocking,
Queonemysing, and four others whose Delaware names are not known.
Colonial documents identify these settlements as being variously
occupied from the 1690s to the 1730s, when William Penn was beginning
to establish Pennsylvania.
Determinations Made by The State Museum of Pennsylvania
Officials of The State Museum of Pennsylvania have determined that:
<bullet> Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 156 cultural items
described above are reasonably believed to have been placed with or
near individual human remains at the time of death or later as part of
the death rite or ceremony and are believed, by a preponderance of the
evidence, to have been removed from a specific burial site of a Native
American individual.
<bullet> Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship of
shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the
unassociated funerary objects and the Delaware Nation, Oklahoma;
Delaware Tribe of Indians; and the Stockbridge Munsee Community,
Wisconsin (hereafter referred to as ``The Tribes'').
Additional Requestors and Disposition
Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or Native
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice
[[Page 47519]]
that wish to claim these cultural items should submit a written request
with information in support of the claim to Dr. Kurt W. Carr, Senior
Curator, Archaeology, The State Museum of Pennsylvania, 300 North
Street, Harrisburg, PA 17120-0024, telephone (717) 783-9926, email
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b8d3dbd9cacaf8c8d996dfd7ce"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="6209010310102212034c050d14">[email protected]</span></a>, by September 24, 2021. After that date, if no additional
claimants have come forward, transfer of control of the unassociated
funerary objects to The Tribes may proceed.
The State Museum of Pennsylvania is responsible for notifying The
Tribes that this notice has been published.
Dated: August 11, 2021.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2021-18272 Filed 8-24-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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