Notice2025-20113
Notice of Inventory Completion: Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, MO
Primary source
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Published
November 18, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) the Missouri Historical Society (MHS) has completed an inventory of associated funerary objects and has determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the associated funerary objects and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 220 (Tuesday, November 18, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 220 (Tuesday, November 18, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51787-51788]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-20113]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N6578; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0041254; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Inventory Completion: Missouri Historical Society, St.
Louis, MO
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 Missouri Historical Society (MHS) has
completed an inventory of associated funerary objects and has
determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the associated
funerary objects and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in
this notice.
DATES: Repatriation of the associated funerary objects in this notice
may occur on or after December 18, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Send written requests for repatriation of the associated
funerary objects to Brady Wolf, Missouri Historical Society, 225 S
Skinker Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63105, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#0466736b686244696b6c6d77706b767d2a6b7663"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="7311041c1f15331e1c1b1a00071c010a5d1c0114">[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
MHS, 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
The 998 associated funerary objects (AFOs) are: 989 stone bifaces
from a cache, one grooved stone axe, one celt, one shell hoe, two
projectile points, one stone drill, one stone flake, one boatstone, and
one lot of shell beads.
In 1905 the Montezuma Mound group (11PK1245) in Pike County,
Illinois, was excavated by advocational archaeologists including Gerard
Fowke, David Ives Bushnell, J.M. Wulfing, and N.D. McEvers. The 989
stone bifaces were taken from a burial in Montezuma Mounds #1, also
known as McEvers Mound. The AFOs from that excavation were transferred
to the Missouri Historical Society later that same year. Additional
AFOs from Montezuma Mounds were transferred from Bushnell to the MHS in
1921. MHS records do not indicate the presence of any known hazardous
substances.
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 associated funerary objects
described in this notice.
Determinations
The MHS has determined that:
<bullet> The 998 objects described in this notice are reasonably
believed to have been placed intentionally with or near individual
human remains at the time of death or later as part of the death rite
or ceremony.
[[Page 51788]]
<bullet> There is a reasonable connection between the associated
funerary objects described in this notice and the Citizen Potawatomi
Nation, Oklahoma; Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma; Forest County
Potawatomi Community, Wisconsin; Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of
Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan; Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska; Kaw
Nation, Oklahoma; Miami Tribe of Oklahoma; Omaha Tribe of Nebraska;
Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, Oklahoma; Peoria Tribe of Indians of
Oklahoma; Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Michigan and Indiana;
Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Ponca Tribe of Nebraska; Prairie
Band Potawatomi Nation; Quapaw Nation; Sac & Fox Nation, Oklahoma; Sac
& Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa; Shawnee Tribe; and the
Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska.
Requests for Repatriation
Written requests for repatriation of the associated funerary
objects in this notice must be 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 associated funerary objects described in this
notice to a requestor may occur on or after December 18, 2025. If
competing requests for repatriation are received, the MHS must
determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation.
Requests for joint repatriation of the associated funerary objects are
considered a single request and not competing requests. The MHS 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: September 25, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-20113 Filed 11-17-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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