Notice2025-17877
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
September 16, 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 177 (Tuesday, September 16, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 177 (Tuesday, September 16, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44704-44705]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-17877]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N6532; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0041085; 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 October 16, 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#5c323d3b2c2e3d1c31392e3f2534292e2f2872393829"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="16787771666477567b7364756f7e6364656238737263">[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, three individuals have been
identified. No associated funerary objects are present. In 1957 and
1958, several members of the Firelands Chapter of the Archaeological
Society of Ohio removed multiple individuals from the Herner Site in
Huron County, Ohio. On an unknown date, individuals from the Herner
Site were 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, an unidentified adhesive
is present. It is unknown when the adhesive was applied. A residue,
likely from tape, is also present on some of the human remains.
Cultural Affiliation
Based on the information available and the results of consultation,
cultural affiliation is reasonably identified by the geographical
location or acquisition history of 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 three individuals of Native American ancestry.
<bullet> There is a connection between the human remains described
in this notice and the Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma;
Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians of the
Bad River Reservation, Wisconsin; Bay Mills Indian Community, Michigan;
Cayuga Nation; Chippewa Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy's Reservation,
Montana; Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Oklahoma; Delaware Tribe of
Indians; Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma; Forest County Potawatomi
Community, Wisconsin; Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa
Indians, Michigan; Hannahville Indian Community, Michigan; Kaw Nation,
Oklahoma; Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Michigan; Lac Courte Oreilles
Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin; Lac du Flambeau
Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of the Lac du Flambeau
Reservation of Wisconsin; Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior
Chippewa Indians of Michigan; Little River Band of Ottawa Indians,
Michigan; Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana; Little
Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Michigan; Match-e-be-nash-she-wish
Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan; Miami Tribe of Oklahoma;
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota (Six component reservations: Bois
Forte Band (Nett Lake); Fond du Lac Band; Grand Portage Band; Leech
Lake Band; Mille Lacs Band; White Earth Band); Nottawaseppi Huron Band
of the Potawatomi, Michigan; Omaha Tribe of Nebraska; Oneida Indian
Nation; Oneida Nation; Onondaga Nation; Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma;
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Michigan and Indiana; Ponca Tribe
of Indians of Oklahoma; Ponca Tribe of Nebraska; Prairie Band
Potawatomi Nation; Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of
Wisconsin; Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Minnesota; Saginaw
Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan; Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe; Sault Ste.
Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Michigan; Seneca Nation of Indians;
Seneca-Cayuga Nation; Shawnee Tribe; Sokaogon Chippewa Community,
Wisconsin; St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin; Tonawanda Band of
Seneca; Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota;
Tuscarora Nation; and the Wyandotte Nation.
Requests for Repatriation
Written requests for repatriation of the human remains in this
notice must be
[[Page 44705]]
sent to the authorized representative identified in this notice under
ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation may be submitted by:
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 October 16, 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 and any other consulting
parties.
(Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.10.)
Dated: September 4, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-17877 Filed 9-15-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on September 16, 2025.
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