Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA, 47518-47519 [2021-18272]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• National Park Service

[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 162 (Wednesday, August 25, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47518-47519]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-18272]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0032457; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: The State Museum 
of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The State Museum of Pennsylvania, in consultation with the 
appropriate Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, has 
determined that the cultural items listed in this notice meet the 
definition of unassociated funerary objects. Lineal descendants or 
representatives of any Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization not 
identified in this notice that wish to claim these cultural items 
should submit a written request to The State Museum of Pennsylvania. If 
no additional claimants come forward, transfer of control of the 
cultural items to the lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, or Native 
Hawaiian organizations stated in this notice may proceed.

DATES: Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or 
Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
claim these cultural items should submit a written request with 
information in support of the claim to The State Museum of Pennsylvania 
at the address in this notice by September 24, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Kurt W. Carr, The State Museum of 
Pennsylvania, 300 North Street, Harrisburg, PA 17120-0024, telephone 
(717) 783-9926, email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is here given in accordance with the 
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 
U.S.C. 3005, of the intent to repatriate cultural items under the 
control of The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA, that meet 
the definition of unassociated funerary objects under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003(d)(3). The 
determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the Native 
American cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.

History and Description of the Cultural Items

    In October of 1935, 21 cultural items were removed from the 
Northbrook Cemetery (36CH0061) in Chester County, PA. These items were 
received by The State Museum of Pennsylvania as part of the Charles and 
Theodore Dutt collection in 1982. The Dutt brothers collected artifacts 
on the surface of the ground in the Brandywine, Chester Creek, and 
Ridley Creek drainages. They reported finding the Northbrook Cemetery 
site because of a ground hog disturbance which yielded pieces of 
copper, a glass bead, and bone fragments. An account of the recovery is 
reported in C. A. Weslager, Red Men on the Brandywine, pp. 134-136 
(1953). On October 19, 1935, the Dutts returned to the site with the 
landowner, Mr. Peterson, to further investigate the area. A burial was 
discovered along with additional beads, broken copper rings and nails. 
The skeletal remains are not present in the collections of The State 
Museum of Pennsylvania, and there is no information showing that they 
were ever removed from the burial. The 21 unassociated funerary objects 
are 13 white glass beads, three iron nails, one copper wire dangler 
wrapped around hair (no determination if animal or human), and four 
fragments of copper rings.
    Archeological and archival evidence suggest that the materials were 
associated with historic Delaware (Lenape) burials. Historic documents 
indicate that in 1731, James Logan provided an area along either side 
of the Brandywine Creek to be retained by Indians occupying this 
region. The Delaware entered into numerous agreements with the 
Commonwealth's colonial government and are recognized as the primary 
tribal group for this region.
    In 1978, 135 cultural items were removed from the Montgomery site 
(36CH0060), Chester County, PA, by Marshall Becker of West Chester 
University with the permission of the landowner. The Montgomery site is 
a Historic period site (A.D. 1700-1733). The collection was the product 
of a joint research project conducted by West Chester University and 
The State Museum of Pennsylvania in Wallace Township, Chester County, 
PA. Archeological and archival evidence suggest that these 135 objects 
are associated with the Delaware Tribes. The 135 unassociated funerary 
objects are 131 fragments of organic fiber, one iron nail fragment, and 
three unmodified quartzite lithic fragments. Oral tradition, 
ethnohistorical, and archeological evidence place a ``Brandywine band'' 
of the Lenape (Delaware) at the site ca. A.D. 1730.
    Settlements documented in Chester County, include Okehocking, 
Queonemysing, and four others whose Delaware names are not known. 
Colonial documents identify these settlements as being variously 
occupied from the 1690s to the 1730s, when William Penn was beginning 
to establish Pennsylvania.

Determinations Made by The State Museum of Pennsylvania

    Officials of The State Museum of Pennsylvania have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 156 cultural items 
described above 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 a Native 
American individual.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship of 
shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the 
unassociated funerary objects and the Delaware Nation, Oklahoma; 
Delaware Tribe of Indians; and the Stockbridge Munsee Community, 
Wisconsin (hereafter referred to as ``The Tribes'').

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice

[[Page 47519]]

that wish to claim these cultural items should submit a written request 
with information in support of the claim to Dr. Kurt W. Carr, Senior 
Curator, Archaeology, The State Museum of Pennsylvania, 300 North 
Street, Harrisburg, PA 17120-0024, telephone (717) 783-9926, email 
[email protected], by September 24, 2021. After that date, if no additional 
claimants have come forward, transfer of control of the unassociated 
funerary objects to The Tribes may proceed.
    The State Museum of Pennsylvania is responsible for notifying The 
Tribes that this notice has been published.

    Dated: August 11, 2021.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2021-18272 Filed 8-24-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P