Notice2025-17614
Notice of Intended Repatriation: University of Tennessee, McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture, Knoxville, TN
Primary source
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Published
September 12, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the University of Tennessee, McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture (UTK) intends to repatriate a certain cultural item that meets the definition of an 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 175 (Friday, September 12, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 175 (Friday, September 12, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44224-44225]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-17614]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N6510; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0041055; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Intended Repatriation: University of Tennessee, McClung
Museum of Natural History & Culture, Knoxville, TN
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 University of Tennessee, McClung Museum
of Natural History & Culture (UTK) intends to repatriate a certain
cultural item that meets the definition of an 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 October 14, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Send additional, written requests for repatriation of the
cultural item in this notice to Dr. Ellen Lofaro, University of
Tennessee, Office of Repatriation, 5723 Middlebrook Pike, Knoxville, TN
37921-6053, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#573936302725361722233c79323322"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="6a040b0d1a180b2a1f1e01440f0e1f">[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 UTK,
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 by
the Fort Independence Indian Community of Paiute Indians of the Fort
Independence Reservation, California. The one object of cultural
patrimony is a handmade waterfowl decoy. Records indicate the decoy
present at UTK is one of six made by a Paiute artist and is similar in
style to others recovered from Lovelock Cave, NV. The McClung Museum
acquired one of these six decoys from a donor in 2003. This donor
acquired the decoy in a `trade' with another collector based in
Pullman, WA at an unknown date prior to 1975. Lovelock Cave is located
in Churchill County, NV and is part of the ancestral homelands of the
Fort Independence Indian Community of Paiute Indians of the Fort
Independence Reservation, California. The duck decoy present at UTK was
made with materials and a construction style similar to other objects
of Cultural Patrimony belonging to the Fort Independence Indian
Community of Paiute Indians of the Fort Independence Reservation,
California. UTK has not identified any known hazardous substances from
available records and will use non-invasive testing methods to confirm
this as directed by the requestor.
Statement From Sean Scruggs, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for
the Fort Independence Indian Reservation in Eastern California
Archaeologists, ethnographers and educational institutions continue
to classify Native Americans as ``prehistoric'' or ``hunters and
gatherers''. Propagation of these labels continue to marginalize the
value of our ancestors and diminishes the ability of Tribes to ``own''
their place in history. Collections and looting have created the need
for mechanisms such as the Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) to serve as a process to return cultural
items to their homes. It is also a process that puts all those involved
at emotional, spiritual and physical risk.
The repatriation process is a time for Tribes to exercise Cultural
Sovereignty. It is an opportunity to reclaim our history that
ethnographers, institutions, and archaeologists have appropriated and
taken away from our people. It is also a forum to teach people about
the effects of generational trauma that has occurred as a result of
genocide, colonization, assimilation and the long-lasting effects of
industrialization.
All of these eras have worked to erase and dilute tribal histories
and cultures. Resilience has brought us to a point in time when we can
bring ancestors and cultural items home in an attempt to restore
balance and heal past wounds. Cultural Patrimony provides the construct
necessary for Tribes to make their own determination about the
[[Page 44225]]
significance of cultural items held in collections.
As the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Fort
Independence Indian Reservation in Eastern California it is an honor to
work towards restoring my ancestral history by bringing cultural items
home to my valley and people.
The decoy duck being repatriated speaks to a conversation of
sophisticated craftmanship, thoughtful hunting skill, selection and
harvesting of materials, and a special relationship with the
Traditional Cultural Landscape. The decoy duck is also a powerful story
of generational knowledge that has been handed down and shared with
generations of people who lived in harmony with land in order to ensure
generational survival.
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville NAGPRA Coordinator Kelsey
Nordine and Ellen Lofaro deserve special recognition for their
attention to detail, exemplary respect and responsiveness during this
difficult process. Their professionalism and care cannot be overstated.
Determinations
UTK has determined that:
<bullet> The one object of cultural patrimony described in this
notice has 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 connection between the cultural item described
in this notice and the Fort Independence Indian Community of Paiute
Indians of the Fort Independence 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 October 14, 2025. If competing requests for
repatriation are received, UTK 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. UTK 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: August 29, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-17614 Filed 9-11-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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