Notice2025-14799
Notice of Inventory Completion: Mercyhurst University, Erie, 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 5, 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 a cultural affiliation between the human remains and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 148 (Tuesday, August 5, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 148 (Tuesday, August 5, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37556-37557]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-14799]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N6399; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0040771; 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 a cultural
affiliation between the human remains and Indian Tribes or Native
Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
DATES: Repatriation of the human remains in this notice may occur on or
after September 4, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Send written requests for repatriation of the human remains
in this notice to Anne Marjenin, Mercyhurst University, 501 East 38th
Street, Erie, PA 16546, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#026c6365727063426f6770617b6a777071762c676677"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="701e1117000211301d1502130918050203045e151405">[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. On an unknown
date, the individual (VM-089) was removed from an unknown geographic
location in Arizona. On an unknown date, the individual was obtained by
Raymond C. Vietzen (1907-1995). While there is no record regarding
potentially hazardous substances having been used to treat the human
remains, an unidentified adhesive is present. It is unknown when the
adhesive was applied. The human remains may have been treated with an
unidentified preservative coating, consolidant, or sealant. It is
unknown when this unidentified substance may have been applied.
Human remains representing, at least, one individual have been
identified. No associated funerary objects are present. On an unknown
date, the individual (VM-075, V-MAN-0116) was removed from La Plata
County, Colorado, by Isaiah ``Zeke'' Flora. On an unknown date, the
individual was obtained by Raymond C. Vietzen (1907-1995). While there
is no record regarding potentially hazardous substances having been
used to treat the human remains, an unidentified adhesive and an
unidentified substance are present. It is unknown when the adhesive and
substance were applied.
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).
Cultural Affiliation
Based on the information available and the results of consultation,
cultural affiliation is clearly identified by the information available
about the human remains described in this notice.
Determinations
Mercyhurst University has determined that:
<bullet> The human remains described in this notice represent the
physical remains of two individuals of Native American ancestry.
<bullet> There is a connection between the human remains described
in this notice and the Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Ohkay Owingeh, New
Mexico; Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo of Cochiti, New Mexico;
Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico; Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico; Pueblo of
Laguna, New Mexico; Pueblo of Nambe, New Mexico; Pueblo of Picuris, New
Mexico; Pueblo of Pojoaque, New Mexico; Pueblo of San Felipe, New
Mexico; Pueblo of San Ildefonso, New Mexico; Pueblo of Sandia, New
Mexico; Pueblo of Santa Ana, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santa Clara, New
Mexico; Pueblo of Taos, New Mexico; Pueblo of Tesuque, New Mexico;
Pueblo of Zia, New Mexico; Santo Domingo Pueblo; Ysleta del Sur Pueblo;
and the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico.
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:
[[Page 37557]]
1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian
organizations identified in this notice.
2. 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 an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization with
cultural affiliation.
Repatriation of the human remains described in this notice to a
requestor may occur on or after September 4, 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 the Indian Tribes and
Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this notice.
Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.10.
Dated: July 28, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-14799 Filed 8-4-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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