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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 249 (Monday, December 30, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 106575-106576]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-31296]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0039265; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]

Notice of Intended Repatriation: Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, 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 Essex Museum (PEM) intends to 
repatriate a certain cultural item that meets the definition of an 
object of cultural patrimony and that has a cultural affiliation with 
the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural item in this notice may occur on or 
after January 29, 2025.

ADDRESSES: Kathryn Smith, Registrar of Collections, Peabody Essex 
Museum, 161 Essex Street, Salem, MA 01970, telephone (978) 542-1559, 
email [email protected].

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 
Peabody Essex Museum, and additional information on the determinations 
in this notice, including the results of consultation,

[[Page 106576]]

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 one cultural item has been requested for repatriation. 
The one object of cultural patrimony is a group of shell wampum beads, 
alternating white and purple tubes, about 5.9 inches long, strung on 
white cotton with each end tied together. This was donated to the 
Peabody Museum of Salem (now PEM) on October 14, 1884 by Miss Erminnie 
A. Smith. Museum accession record 1759 recorded the cultural item as 
``Beads of Tuskarora [sic] Indian Chief.'' It was assigned in the 
logbook as catalog number E991, and described as ``Beads of a Chief, 
Tuscarora'' given by Miss E.F. [sic] Smith. Its corresponding 20th 
century catalog card described the cultural item as ``Beads, Wampum, of 
Tuscarora Chief.'' The donor is confirmed as Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith of 
Jersey City, N.J. in Peabody Academy of Science Annual Report (Salem: 
1885, 90). In 1880, the Smithsonian Institution appointed Smith as a 
``scientific explorer'' charged with studying the language and culture 
of the Six Nations and the collection of cultural items. From published 
memorial volume, In Memoriam: Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith (Boston: Lee and 
Shepard, 1890, 33-34), Smith was adopted into the White Bear Clan at 
Tuscarora Nation and given the name Ka-tc[ibreve]'-tc[ibreve]s-
t[auml][acute]-kw[abreve]st.

Determinations

    The Peabody Essex Museum has determined that:
     The one object of cultural patrimony described in this 
notice has ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural importance 
central to the Tuscarora Nation, including any constituent sub-
groups(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.
     There is a reasonable connection between the cultural item 
described in this notice and the Tuscarora Nation.

Requests for Repatriation

    Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural item 
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 item in this notice to a requestor may 
occur on or after January 29, 2025. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the Peabody Essex Museum must determine the 
most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint 
repatriation of the cultural item are considered a single request and 
not competing requests. The Peabody Essex Museum 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 19, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-31296 Filed 12-27-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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