Notice2025-07427
Notice of Inventory Completion: Mercyhurst University, Erie, PA
Primary source
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Published
April 30, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Mercyhurst University has completed an inventory of human remains and has determined that there is no lineal descendant and no Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization with cultural affiliation.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 82 (Wednesday, April 30, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 82 (Wednesday, April 30, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Page 17970]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-07427]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0040012; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Inventory Completion: Mercyhurst University, Erie, PA
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Mercyhurst University has completed an
inventory of human remains and has determined that there is no lineal
descendant and no Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization with
cultural affiliation.
DATES: Upon request, repatriation of the human remains in this notice
may occur on or after May 30, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Anne Marjenin, Mercyhurst University, 501 East 38th Street,
Erie, PA 16546, telephone (814) 824-2012, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1e707f796e6c7f5e737b6c7d67766b6c6d6a307b7a6b"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="caa4abadbab8ab8aa7afb8a9b3a2bfb8b9bee4afaebf">[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
Mercyhurst University, and additional information on the determinations
in this notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in
its inventory or related records. The National Park Service is not
responsible for the determinations in this notice.
Abstract of Information Available
Human remains representing, at least, one individual have been
identified. No associated funerary objects are present. The individual
(VM-024, V-MAN-0206) was removed from an unknown geographic location in
North Carolina, likely in 1967 or 1969. On an unknown date, the
individual was obtained by Raymond C. Vietzen (1907-1995). Vietzen, an
avocational archaeologist, collector, and author, established the
Indian Ridge Museum in Elyria, Ohio, and the Archaeological Society of
Ohio (formerly the Ohio Indian Relic Collectors Society). The Indian
Ridge Museum, founded in the 1930s, served as Vietzen's laboratory and
repository, and it remained in operation until the mid-1990s. After
Vietzen's death, the facility fell into disrepair, and most of the
items he had acquired and housed at the museum were sold. In 1998, the
Ohio Historical Society (presently the Ohio History Connection) removed
ancestral human remains and some of the remaining items from the
facility and temporarily housed them at the Ohio Historical Society. In
October of 2003, these remains were transferred from the Ohio
Historical Society to Mercyhurst College (presently Mercyhurst
University).
While there is no record regarding potentially hazardous substances
having been used to treat the human remains, unidentified adhesives and
an unidentified foam are present. It is unknown when the adhesives and
foam were applied.
Consultation
Invitations to consult were sent to the Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of
Indians of Oklahoma; Catawba Indian Nation; Cherokee Nation;
Chickahominy Indian Tribe; Chickahominy Indian Tribe-Eastern Division;
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma;
Monacan Indian Nation; Nansemond Indian Nation; Pamunkey Indian Tribe;
Rappahannock Tribe, Inc.; Shawnee Tribe; The Muscogee (Creek) Nation;
Tuscarora Nation; United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in
Oklahoma; and the Upper Mattaponi Tribe.
The following Indian Tribes participated in consultation: Cherokee
Nation; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; Nansemond Indian Nation;
Shawnee Tribe; and The Muscogee (Creek) Nation. The Chickahominy Indian
Tribe-Eastern Division provided a response on a later date.
Cultural Affiliation
The following types of information about the cultural affiliation
of the human remains in this notice are available: geographical. The
information, including the results of consultation, identified:
1. No earlier group connected to the human remains.
2. No Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization connected to the
human remains.
3. No relationship of shared group identity between the earlier
group and the Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization that can be
reasonably traced through time.
Determinations
Mercyhurst University has determined that:
<bullet> The human remains described in this notice represent the
physical remains of one individual of Native American ancestry.
<bullet> No known lineal descendant who can trace ancestry to the
human remains in this notice has been identified.
<bullet> No Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization with
cultural affiliation to the human remains in this notice has been
clearly or reasonably identified.
Requests for Repatriation
Written requests for repatriation of the human remains 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
who shows, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the requestor is a
lineal descendant or an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization
with cultural affiliation.
Upon request, repatriation of the human remains described in this
notice may occur on or after May 30, 2025. If competing requests for
repatriation are received, Mercyhurst University must determine the
most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint
repatriation of the human remains are considered a single request and
not competing requests. Mercyhurst University is responsible for
sending a copy of this notice to any consulting lineal descendant,
Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization.
Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.10.
Dated: April 15, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-07427 Filed 4-29-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on April 30, 2025.
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