Notice2025-22887
Notice of Inventory Completion: Mercyhurst University, Erie, PA
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), Mercyhurst University has completed an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects and has determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and 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 239 (Tuesday, December 16, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 239 (Tuesday, December 16, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58278-58279]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-22887]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N6612; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0041343; 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 associated funerary objects and has
determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human
remains and associated funerary objects and Indian Tribes or Native
Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary
objects in this notice may occur on or after January 15, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Send written requests for repatriation of the human remains
and associated funerary objects in this notice to Anne Marjenin,
Mercyhurst University, 501 East 38th Street, Erie, PA 16546, email
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#6b050a0c1b190a2b060e190812031e19181f450e0f1e"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="6b050a0c1b190a2b060e190812031e19181f450e0f1e">[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, 10 individuals have been
identified. No associated funerary objects are present. In the mid to
late 1890s, likely around 1895, multiple individuals were removed from
a location referred to as Traxler Mound and/or the Eiden Site in Lorain
County, Ohio. On an unknown date, Raymond C. Vietzen (1907-1995)
obtained an unknown number of individuals from the 1890s collecting
activities. Between 1955 and 1958, additional individuals were removed
from the same location, which was then referred to as the Engel-Eiden
Site. Vietzen, who participated in the 1950s collecting activities,
retained an unknown number of individuals from the Engel-Eiden Site,
and likely continued to remove individuals into the 1960s. While there
is no record regarding potentially hazardous substances having been
used to treat the human remains, tape, paint, newspaper, unidentified
adhesives, and an unidentified plaster or similar type of substance are
present. It is unknown when these materials and substances were
applied. A residue, likely from tape, is also present on some of the
human remains.
Human remains representing, at least, 15 individuals have been
identified. The two associated funerary objects are a lead ball and
faunal remains. On unknown dates before December 1943, Raymond C.
Vietzen (1907-1995) removed, and supervised the removal, of multiple
individuals from the Franks Site in Lorain County, Ohio. This location
may also be referred to as the Morris-Franks Site and/or Morris Village
Site. Vietzen likely removed additional individuals in 1949, and he
retained an unknown number of individuals from the location. While
there is no record regarding potentially hazardous substances having
been used to treat the human remains, tape, wax, unidentified
adhesives, an unidentified plaster or similar type of substance, and an
unidentified preservative coating, consolidant, or sealant are present.
It is unknown when these materials and substances were applied. A
residue, likely from tape, is also present on some of the human
remains.
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).
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 and
[[Page 58279]]
associated funerary objects described in this notice.
Determinations
Mercyhurst University has determined that:
<bullet> The human remains described in this notice represent the
physical remains of 25 individuals of Native American ancestry.
<bullet> The two 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.
<bullet> There is a connection between the human remains and
associated funerary objects 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; 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;
Stockbridge Munsee Community, 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 and
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 human remains and associated funerary objects
described in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after January
15, 2026. 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 and associated funerary objects 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: November 17, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-22887 Filed 12-15-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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