Notice2024-10155
Notice of Intended Repatriation: Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
Primary source
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Published
May 9, 2024
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of objects of cultural patrimony and that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 91 (Thursday, May 9, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 91 (Thursday, May 9, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39641-39642]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-10155]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037880; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Intended Repatriation: Oakland Museum of California,
Oakland, CA
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 Oakland Museum of California (OMCA)
intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition
of objects 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 items in this notice may occur on
or after June 10, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Anna Bunting, Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak Street,
Oakland, CA 94607, telephone (510) 318-8493, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#aec0cfc9dedccfeec3dbddcbdbc3cdcf80c1dcc9"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="bad4dbddcac8dbfad7cfc9dfcfd7d9db94d5c8dd">[email protected]</span></a>.
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
Oakland Museum of California, 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
A total of 259 cultural items or lots of items, represented by 188
catalog numbers, have been requested for repatriation. The 259 objects
of cultural patrimony are 76 baskets, three rattles, nine awls, 12 yo-
koli, two soap root brushes, seven lithics, six netted bags, one
pictograph, one flute, one smoking pipe, one turtle charm, one singing
bow, four gambling bones, four cooking sticks/tools, three meat drying
poles, two fire drills, one root digger, one cloak, one ear ornament,
three hair pins, two headnets, one headdress, one necklace, four
tremblers, 18 magnesite beads, 31 acorn woodpecker scalps, and 63 lots
or individual items of raw or processed natural materials (i.e. acorns
and acorn meal; basket material; tumpline and cord; seeds, nuts and
berries; eel meat, salmon eggs, grasshoppers, bark, medicinal roots,
herbs, mushrooms, tobacco, deer sinew and brain, clam shell, maize).
All of the items on this claim were acquired by Charles P. Wilcomb
during various `collecting trips' that he undertook while he was the
Curator of the Oakland Public Museum (OPM). All of the items requested
for repatriation were donated to the OPM by either Charles P. Wilcomb,
or by his daughter, Miss Louise Wilcomb, after his death in 1915. The
Oakland Public Museum and its collections were merged into the Oakland
Museum of California in 1969.
Twenty-four of the items were collected during Wilcomb's September
29-November 28, 1911, collecting trip. They were acquired by the
Oakland Public Museum on December 11, 1911. Wilcomb collected these
items from the following sources: Dr. Indian Jim's wife and Captain
John Chinaman's wife in Bald Rock, Butte County; and Kittie George,
Billy Williams, and an unnamed old woman at Camp Creek and Dogwood
Rancheria, Butte County.
One hundred and fifty-four of the items were collected during
Wilcomb's November 24-December 27, 1913 collecting trip. They were
acquired by the Oakland Public Museum on January 7, 1914. Wilcomb
collected these items from the following sources: Hood Smith's wife
(Cleo Martin Smith), Johnny Johnson's wife (Cordelia Martin Johnson),
and an unnamed old woman in Brush Creek, Butte Co.; Fanny Wagner, Old
Woman Maggie, Rose Edward, an unnamed old woman, and an unnamed
individual at Ed Wagner's Camp, Hunter's Ravine, Plumas Co.; John
Kennedy at Middle Fork, Feather River, Butte Co.; Dick Harris and his
wife (Emeline Harry) at Dick Harris camp, Beau Creek, Butte Co (Dick
Harris- listed in OPM ledgers- is a misspelling of Dick Harry, and Beau
Creek is a misspelling of Bean Creek); Henry Flinn at Bald Rock, Butte
Co; An unnamed individual at Berry Creek, Butte Co.; From the old
council house near Sulphur Springs, Berry Creek, Butte Co.
Eighty-one of the items were donated to the Oakland Public Museum
on December 7, 1915 by Wilcomb's daughter, Louise Wilcomb, after her
father's death in 1915. All of the items on this list were most likely
collected sometime between 1911 and 1915 when Wilcomb was going on
extensive collecting trips to Maidu ancestral territory. These items
are noted as coming from the following locations: Brush Creek, Butte
Co.; Bean Creek, Butte Co.; Buckshot Johnson at Dogwood Creek, Feather
River Canyon, Butte Co.; Berry Creek, Butte Co. (including Bald Rock,
Sulphur Springs, Beau Creek); Pulga, Feather River Canyon, Butte Co.;
Hunter's Ravine, Butte Co; Stanfield Hill, Butte Co.; Billy Day camp,
Sulphur Springs, Butte Co.; Big Meadows, Plumas Co.
Two of the items included in the 1915 acquisition do not have
collection location information. One of these items is a rattle that is
very similar to another rattle being requested for repatriation that
came from Dick Harris's camp. OMCA institutional records note that
these two rattles were most likely ``made by the same group of people,
and perhaps by the same person.'' The other item with no collection
location information is a lot of Yo-Koli, however, as this item was
originally cataloged in 1915 using the Konkow name (yo-koli) it is
assumed to have come from Butte County.
Information provided by the Tribe indicates that Berry Creek
Rancheria of Maidu Indians of California is culturally affiliated with
the items and places associated with this claim. In 2007, random
testing of OMCA's basket collection was conducted using pXRF
technology. Three baskets included in
[[Page 39642]]
this request for repatriation were tested at that time with positive
results for mercury and negative results for arsenic. Two other baskets
included on this request for repatriation were tested at that time,
with negative results for both mercury and arsenic.
Determinations
The Oakland Museum of California has determined that:
<bullet> The 259 objects of cultural patrimony described in this
notice have 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.
<bullet> There is a reasonable connection between the cultural
items described in this notice and the Berry Creek Rancheria of Maidu
Indians of California.
Requests for Repatriation
Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items
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 items in this notice to a requestor
may occur on or after June 10, 2024. If competing requests for
repatriation are received, the Oakland Museum of California must
determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation.
Requests for joint repatriation of the cultural items are considered a
single request and not competing requests. The Oakland Museum of
California 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: April 30, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-10155 Filed 5-8-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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