Notice2025-22885
Notice of Intended Repatriation: Yale Peabody Museum, Yale University, New Haven, CT
Primary source
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Published
December 16, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Yale Peabody Museum, Yale University, intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects and that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes in this notice.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 239 (Tuesday, December 16, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 239 (Tuesday, December 16, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58263-58264]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-22885]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N6610; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0041341; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Intended Repatriation: Yale Peabody Museum, Yale
University, New Haven, CT
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 Yale Peabody Museum, Yale University,
intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition
of unassociated funerary objects and that have a cultural affiliation
with the Indian Tribes in this notice.
DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on
or after January 15, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Send additional, written requests for repatriation of the
cultural items in this notice to Professor Erika Edwards, Interim
Director, Yale Peabody Museum, P.O. Box 208118, New Haven, CT 06520-
8118, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#4d283f24262c6328293a2c3f293e0d342c212863282938"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="b2d7c0dbd9d39cd7d6c5d3c0d6c1f2cbd3ded79cd7d6c7">[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
Yale Peabody Museum, and additional information on
[[Page 58264]]
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 14 cultural items have been requested for repatriation.
The two unassociated funerary objects are one lot of modified stone,
and one lot of unmodified stone removed from the Riverside area in
Gill, including Fort Hill, in Franklin County, Massachusetts by Edward
H. Rogers likely between 1915 and 1920. Rogers donated the items to the
Yale Peabody Museum in 1960.
The one unassociated funerary object is one lot of modified stone
removed from Gill in Franklin County. The items were accessioned by the
Yale Peabody Museum in 1906 and were received through unknown donors
and collectors.
The two unassociated funerary objects are one lot of modified
stone, and one lot of unmodified stone. The items were removed from the
vicinity of Montague, including Turners Falls, in Franklin County. The
items were acquired by Horatio Nelson Rust and donated to the Yale
Peabody Museum by Othniel Charles (O.C.) Marsh in 1872.
The two unassociated funerary objects are one lot of modified
stone, and one lot of unmodified stone removed from Turners Falls in
Montague in Franklin County. The items were removed or acquired by
Oscar H. Lebourveau and given with other collections to the Geology
Department at the Yale Peabody Museum in 1877. The items were
transferred to the Anthropology Department in 1929.
The one unassociated funerary object is one lot of modified stone
removed from Riverside in Gill in Franklin County. The items were
donated to the Yale Peabody Museum in 1884 by Sheridan C. Heighway.
The two unassociated funerary objects are one lot of modified
stone, and one lot of modified copper removed from Riverside in Gill,
Hampden County. The items were acquired by Othniel Charles (O.C.) Marsh
prior to 1899 and brought to the Yale Peabody Museum in 1908.
The one unassociated funerary object is one lot of modified stone
from Montague in Franklin County. The items were acquired by Othniel
Charles (O.C.) Marsh prior to 1899 and brought to the Yale Peabody
Museum in 1908.
The one unassociated funerary object is one lot of modified stone
removed from Depot Hill in Holyoke, Hampden County. The item was
donated to the Yale Peabody Museum in 1912 by Dr. George Elwood
Nichols.
The two unassociated funerary objects are one lot of undecorated
ceramic sherds, and one lot of decorated ceramic sherds removed from
the Guida Farm site in Hampden County by Edward Brooks. The items were
donated to the Yale Peabody Museum by Edwin Kenneth Burnett of the
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, in 1945.
Determinations
The Yale Peabody Museum has determined that:
<bullet> The 14 unassociated funerary objects described in this
notice are reasonably believed to have been placed intentionally with
or near human remains, and are connected, either at the time of death
or later as part of the death rite or ceremony of a Native American
culture according to the Native American traditional knowledge of a
lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization. The
unassociated funerary objects have been identified by a preponderance
of the evidence as related to human remains, specific individuals, or
families, or removed from a specific burial site or burial area of an
individual or individuals with cultural affiliation to an Indian Tribe
or Native Hawaiian organization.
<bullet> There is a connection between the cultural items described
in this notice and the Stockbridge Munsee Community, Wisconsin.
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 January 15, 2026. If competing requests for
repatriation are received, the Yale Peabody Museum 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 Yale Peabody Museum is responsible for
sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes 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: November 17, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-22885 Filed 12-15-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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