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###### Department of the Interior

###### National Park Service

          - [NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037079; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]

# AGENCY:

National Park Service, Interior.

# ACTION:

Notice.

# SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Grand Rapids Public Museum 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. The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from Lee County, FL.

# DATES:

Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice may occur on or after January 18, 2024.

# ADDRESSES:

                        Alex Forist, Chief Curator, 272 Pearl Street NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504, telephone (616) 929-1809, email                         *aforist@grpm.org.*

# 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 Grand Rapids Public Museum. The National Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice. Additional information on the determinations in this notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in the inventory or related records held by the Grand Rapids Public Museum.

## Description

At an unknown date, human remains representing, at minimum, four individuals were removed from Lee County, FL. At an unknown date, Dr. J.W. Velie, a medical professional and professor who lived in St. Joseph, MI, and wintered in Florida reportedly purchased the human remains and artifact from an unknown individual that were said to have been found in a grave in 1880. From 1870 to 1893, Velie was employed as an assistant curator for the Academy of Science in Chicago, IL, and following the Great Chicago Fire, he conducted field work in Cuba, Florida, and the Yucatan to collect specimens to help rebuild the Academy's collections. The Grand Rapids Public Museum acquired the human remains and funerary object from Velie in 1909. The age of the human remains is unknown. The one associated funerary object is an ornamental metal coin piece that has been hammered and has punched holes.

## Cultural Affiliation

The human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice are connected to one or more identifiable earlier groups, tribes, peoples, or cultures. There is a relationship of shared group identity between the identifiable earlier groups, tribes, peoples, or cultures and one or more Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations. The following types of information were used to reasonably trace the relationship: archeological information, geographical information, oral history, and historical information.

## Determinations

Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations, the Grand Rapids Public Museum has determined that:
    - The human remains described in this notice represent the physical remains of four individuals of Native American ancestry.
    - The one object described in this notice 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.
    - There is a relationship of shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the human remains and associated funerary objects described in this notice and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians; Seminole Tribe of Florida; The Muscogee (Creek) Nation; and The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.       ( print page 87800)      

## Requests for Repatriation

                    Written requests for repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the Responsible Official identified in                     **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 a culturally affiliated Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization.

Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after January 18, 2024. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the Grand Rapids Public Museum 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 Grand Rapids Public Museum is 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 10.9, 10.10, and 10.14.                

Dated: December 8, 2023.

Melanie O'Brien,

Manager, National NAGPRA Program. 

[FR Doc. 2023-27789 Filed 12-18-23; 8:45 am]

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