Notice2026-08761
Notice of Inventory Completion: Warren Anatomical Museum Collection, Center for the History of Medicine in the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard University, Boston, MA
Primary source
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Published
May 5, 2026
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University (PMAE) and Warren Anatomical Museum collection in the Center for the History of Medicine, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard University (CHoM) have completed an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects and have 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 91 Issue 86 (Tuesday, May 5, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 86 (Tuesday, May 5, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24283-24284]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-08761]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N7115; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0042684; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Inventory Completion: Warren Anatomical Museum
Collection, Center for the History of Medicine in the Francis A.
Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard University, Boston, MA
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 Peabody Museum of Archaeology and
Ethnology, Harvard University (PMAE) and Warren Anatomical Museum
collection in the Center for the History of Medicine, Francis A.
Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard University (CHoM) have completed
an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects and have
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 June 4, 2026.
[[Page 24284]]
ADDRESSES: Send written requests for repatriation of the human remains
and associated funerary objects in this notice to Jane Pickering,
Director, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard
University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138,
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#670d170e040c02150e090027010614490f06151106150349020312"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="2f455f464c444a5d4641486f494e5c01474e5d594e5d4b014a4b5a">[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
PMAE and CHoM, Harvard 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, one individual have been
identified. The one associated funerary object is a glass specimen jar
for housing the human remains. The human remains of an unborn fetus
were collected by or for Jeffries Wyman prior to his death in 1874 from
the immediate area near Lake Superior, Michigan. Upon Wyman's death,
some of his museum collection was bequeathed to the anatomical museum
of the Boston Society for Medical Improvement which was later formally
absorbed into Harvard's Warren Anatomical Museum in 1889. The human
remains are preserved in an unknown medical grade preservation fluid,
likely alcohol-based, given the historic introduction of formaldehyde
in 1889.
Cultural Affiliation
Based on the information available and the results of consultation,
cultural affiliation is clearly identified by the information available
about the human remains and associated funerary object described in
this notice.
Determinations
The PMAE and CHoM have determined that:
<bullet> The human remains described in this notice represent the
physical remains of one individual of Native American ancestry.
<bullet> The one object described in this notice is 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 object described in this notice and the Bay Mills
Indian Community, Michigan; Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa
Indians, Michigan; Hannahville Indian Community, Michigan; Keweenaw Bay
Indian Community, Michigan; Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior
Chippewa Indians of Michigan; Little River Band of Ottawa Indians,
Michigan; Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Michigan; Match-
E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi (previously listed as Match-E-
Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan); Nottawaseppi
Huron Band of the Potawatomi, Michigan; Pokagon Band of Potawatomi
Indians, Michigan and Indiana; Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of
Michigan; and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Michigan.
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 June 4,
2026. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the PMAE and
CHoM 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. The PMAE and CHoM are 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: April 27, 2026.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2026-08761 Filed 5-4-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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