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Notice2026-11233

Notice of Intended Repatriation: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

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
June 4, 2026

Issuing agencies

Interior DepartmentNational Park Service

Abstract

In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects 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 91 Issue 107 (Thursday, June 4, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 107 (Thursday, June 4, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33734-33735]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-11233]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[N7193; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0042926; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intended Repatriation: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth 
College, Hanover, NH

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 Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth intends to 
repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of 
unassociated funerary objects 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 July 6, 2026.

ADDRESSES: Send additional, written requests for repatriation of the 
cultural items in this notice to Jami C. Powell, Associate Director of 
Curatorial Affairs & Curator of Indigenous Art, Hood Museum of Art, 6 
East Wheelock Street Hanover, NH 03755, email 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#3c5453535812727d7b6c6e7d7c585d4e48515349485412595849"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="2c4443434802626d6b7c7e6d6c484d5e58414359584402494859">[email&#160;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 
Hood Museum of Art, 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 45 cultural items have been requested for repatriation. 
The 45 unassociated funerary objects are ceramic pots, bowls, and jars.
    The Alabama Museum of Natural History, University of Alabama, 
removed ancestral remains and cultural objects from Mississippi County, 
AR in 1932 and 1933 through archaeological excavations at Nodena and 
Pecan Point sites under Director Walter B. Jones. Additional objects 
from the region entered the Alabama Museum of Natural History 
collection throughout the 1930s, as ceramics were sold to the museum by 
collectors Luther E. Jones and Harry Payne. In 1935, Lena Garth 
purchased 44 Mississippi County, AR ceramics from this collection at 
the Alabama Museum of Natural History. Garth immediately donated the 
objects to Dartmouth College Museum in the name of her grandson, a 
Dartmouth student.
    A total of one object, from Mississippi County, AR, was purchased 
by Frank Proctor from an unknown source in 1900. Proctor gave the 
vessel to his nephew, Alexis Chapman Proctor, who donated it to 
Dartmouth's collection in 1967.

Determinations

    The Hood Museum of Art has determined that:
    <bullet> The 45 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 Quapaw Nation.

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

[[Page 33735]]

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 July 6, 2026. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the Hood 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 Hood Museum of Art 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: May 29, 2026.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2026-11233 Filed 6-3-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P


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Indexed from Federal Register on June 4, 2026.

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