Notice2025-23383
Notice of Intended Repatriation: University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
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
December 19, 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 242 (Friday, December 19, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 242 (Friday, December 19, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Page 59561]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-23383]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N6818; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0041637; 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 January 20, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Send additional, written requests for repatriation of the
cultural items in this notice to Alexandra Lucas, 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#650b040215170448100607250700170e0009001c4b000110"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="b0ded1d7c0c2d19dc5d3d2f0d2d5c2dbd5dcd5c99ed5d4c5">[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
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 51 lots of cultural items in the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum
of Anthropology (Museum) at the University of California, Berkeley have
been requested for repatriation.
In 1907, with the financial sponsorship of Phoebe A. Hearst, Alfred
L. Kroeber acquired 49 lots of objects of cultural patrimony from
Morongo Reservation, Riverside County, California toward the
establishment of the Museum. The objects of cultural patrimony include
bows, arrows, baskets, vessels, seed beaters, carrying nets, bone
tools, and stone tools.
In 1927, Horatio Shumway Lee donated one object of cultural
patrimony, a basket, to the Museum. Museum records note the basket as
having been collected by Sarah E. Gilman, a teacher from the U.S.
Indian Day School, Potrero, on Morongo Band of Mission Indians'
reservation.
In 1965, the Heintz family donated one object of cultural patrimony
to the Museum. The object of cultural patrimony is a basket with a tag
indicating it was made in Morongo.
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 51 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 reasonable connection between the cultural
items described in this notice and the Morongo Band of Mission 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 January 20, 2026. 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: December 11, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-23383 Filed 12-18-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on December 19, 2025.
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