[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 197 (Friday, October 10, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53022-53023]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-26871]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items in the Possession 
of the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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    Notice is hereby given under the Native American Graves Protection 
and Repatriation Act, 43 CFR 10.10 (a)(3), of the intent to repatriate 
cultural items in the possession of the Peabody Essex Museum which 
meets the definition of ``unassociated funerary objects'' under Section 
2 of the Act.
    The three cultural items are a tapa shroud, and two tapa samples. 
The tapa shroud is comprised of two sheets of black tapa and three 
sheets of undyed tapa secured along one edge with tapa stitches. The 
first tapa sample consists of a square sheet with watermarks and brown 
dye on one side. The second tapa sample consists of a rectangular 
fragment with watermarks and black dye on one side.
    Between 1823 and 1855, the tapa shroud was collected by Stephen 
Reynolds. In 1917, SW. Phillips purchased the Reynolds collection from 
a Mr. Wilmarth and donated it to the Peabody Essex Museum.
    In 1921, Bishop Museum records indicate that a piece of tapa may 
have been donated by Robert VanDeusen of Kinderhook, NY. The first tapa 
sample was cut from this piece of tapa and was acquired by Marcia Brown 
Bishop prior to 1938. The Peabody Essex Museum purchased this tapa 
sample as part of the Marcia Brown Bishop collection in 1966.
    In 1929, tapa from a burial cave at Kohala, HI was received by the 
Bishop Museum as part of an exchange with Ted T. Dranga. The second 
tapa sample was cut from the burial cave tapa in the collections of the 
Bishop Museum and obtained by Marcia Brown Bishop prior to 1938. In 
1966, the Peabody Essex Museum purchased this tapa sample from Ms. 
Bishop.
    Consultation with representatives of Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O 
Hawai'i Nei, Ka Lahui Hawai'i, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs 
indicates these items were very likely used as burial tapa and made 
specifically for that purpose.
    Officials of the Peabody Essex Museum have determined that, 
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(B), these three cultural items are 
reasonably believed to have been placed with or near individual human 
remains at the time of death or later as part of the death rite or 
ceremony and are believed, by a preponderance of the evidence, to have 
been removed from a specific burial site of an Native American 
individual. Officials of the Peabody Essex Museum have also determined 
that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship of shared 
group identity which can be reasonably traced between these items and 
Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai'i

[[Page 53023]]

Nei, Ka Lahui Hawai'i, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
    This notice has been sent to officials of Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O 
Hawai'i Nei, Ka Lahui Hawai'i, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. 
Representatives of any other Native Hawaiian organization that believes 
itself to be culturally affiliated with these objects should contact 
Dan L. Monroe, Executive Director, Peabody Essex Museum, East India 
Square, Salem, MA 01970; telephone (508) 745-1876, fax (508) 744-6776 
before [thirty days following publication in the Federal Register]. 
Repatriation of these objects to Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai'i Nei, 
Ka Lahui Hawai'i, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs may begin after 
that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The National Park Service is not responsible for the determinations 
within this notice.
Dated: October 3, 1997.
Francis P. McManamon,
Departmental Consulting Archeologist, Manager, Archeology and 
Ethnography Program.
[FR Doc. 97-26871 Filed 10-9-97; 8:45 am]
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