Notice2025-16125
Notice of Intended Repatriation: Kalamazoo Valley Museum, Kalamazoo, MI
Primary source
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Published
August 22, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Kalamazoo Valley Museum intends to repatriate a certain cultural item that meets the definition of a sacred object/object of cultural patrimony and that has a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 161 (Friday, August 22, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 161 (Friday, August 22, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41123-41124]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-16125]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N6470; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0040889; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Intended Repatriation: Kalamazoo Valley Museum,
Kalamazoo, MI
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 Kalamazoo Valley Museum intends to
repatriate a certain cultural item that meets the definition of a
sacred object/object of cultural patrimony and that has 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 September 22, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Send additional, written requests for repatriation of the
cultural item in this notice to Regina Gorham, Collections Manager,
Kalamazoo Valley Museum, 230 N Rose Street, Kalamazoo, MI 49007, email
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#2250454d504a434f62495441410c474657"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="cab8ada5b8a2aba78aa1bca9a9e4afaebf">[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
Kalamazoo Valley 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
A total of one cultural item has been requested for repatriation.
The one sacred object/object of cultural patrimony is a basket/tray.
The donor of the object is Albert May Todd (A.M. Todd). A.M. Todd was a
wealthy entrepreneur known for his success in the mint oil industry and
for his extensive travels and collecting. After establishing his
business in Kalamazoo in 1891, he began traveling primarily to Europe,
where he amassed a vast and eclectic collection of art and cultural
artifacts. His interests included European paintings, pottery, Native
American art, and antiquities from Ancient Rome and Egypt. On one trip
alone, he returned with 30,000 pounds of art. Todd displayed his
collection publicly in his downtown offices and throughout Kalamazoo in
schools and other institutions, driven by a belief that art and culture
should be accessible to all--though his collecting reflected the
Eurocentric and colonialist views of his time. Many items were shared
informally with institutions before being officially donated, and upon
his death in 1931, his collection was distributed across schools,
colleges, museums, and libraries in Michigan. This basket was purchased
from Grace Nicholson's store in Pasadena, CA in April of 1917.
Determinations
The Kalamazoo Valley Museum has determined that:
<bullet> The one sacred object/object of cultural patrimony
described in this notice are, according to the Native American
traditional knowledge of an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian
organization, specific ceremonial objects needed by a traditional
Native American religious leader for present-day adherents to practice
traditional Native American religion, and 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).
<bullet> There is a connection between the cultural item described
in this notice and the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe of the Chemehuevi
Reservation, California.
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 September 22, 2025. If competing requests for
repatriation are received, the Kalamazoo Valley 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 Kalamazoo Valley 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
[[Page 41124]]
U.S.C. 3004 and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9.
Dated: August 13, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-16125 Filed 8-21-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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