Notice2025-18586

Notice of Intended Repatriation: University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

Primary source

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Published
September 25, 2025

Issuing agencies

Interior DepartmentNational Park Service

Abstract

In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the University of California, Berkeley intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of objects of cultural patrimony and that have 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 184 (Thursday, September 25, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 184 (Thursday, September 25, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46241-46242]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-18586]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[N6547; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0041134; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intended Repatriation: University of California, 
Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

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 California, Berkeley 
intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition 
of objects of cultural patrimony and that have a cultural affiliation 
with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on 
or after October 27, 2025.

ADDRESSES: Send additional, written requests for repatriation of the 
cultural items in this notice to Alexandra Lucas, Repatriation 
Coordinator, Government and Community Relations, Office of the 
Chancellor, University of California Berkeley, 200 California Hall, 
Berkeley, CA 94720, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#3a545b5d4a485b174f59587a585f48515f565f43145f5e4f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="4c222d2b3c3e2d61392f2e0c2e293e272920293562292839">[email&#160;protected]</span></a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published as part of the

[[Page 46242]]

National Park Service's administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA. 
The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
University of California, Berkeley, 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 98 lots of cultural items have been requested for 
repatriation. The 98 objects of cultural patrimony are from the 
following accessions: Acc. 256, Acc. 269, Acc. 270, Acc. 273, and Acc. 
1940AJ in the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University 
of California, Berkeley.
    With the financial sponsorship of Phoebe A. Hearst, Alfred L. 
Kroeber removed 96 lots of objects of cultural patrimony from Torres 
Martinez Reservation and Alamo Bonito in Riverside County, California 
for the Museum of the Department of Anthropology of the University of 
California (today the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology) in 1906 
and 1907. The objects of cultural patrimony include arrows and arrow 
making materials, bows, bone tools, vessels, basketry, carrying nets, a 
digging stick, feathered pins, flutes, ground stone, a rattle, sandals, 
a seed beater, and splints.
    In 1940, the University of California Museum of Anthropology (today 
the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology) appropriated two lots of 
objects of cultural patrimony removed from Torres Martinez Reservation 
in Riverside County, California by Bert A. Gerow. The objects of 
cultural patrimony are botanicals.
    Collections and collection spaces at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of 
Anthropology were treated with substances for preservation and pest 
control, some potentially hazardous. No records have been found to date 
at the Museum to indicate whether or not chemicals or natural 
substances were used prior to 1960.

Determinations

    The University of California, Berkeley has determined that:
    <bullet> The 98 lots of objects of cultural patrimony described in 
this notice 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), according to the Native American 
traditional knowledge of an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian 
organization.
    <bullet> There is a connection between the cultural items described 
in this notice and the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, 
California.

Requests for Repatriation

    Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items 
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 items in this notice to a requestor 
may occur on or after October 27, 2025. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the University of California, Berkeley must 
determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. 
Requests for joint repatriation of the cultural items are considered a 
single request and not competing requests. The University of 
California, Berkeley 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: September 11, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-18586 Filed 9-24-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P


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Indexed from Federal Register on September 25, 2025.

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