Notice of Intended Repatriation: Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA, 39641-39642 [2024-10155]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• National Park Service

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 91 (Thursday, May 9, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39641-39642]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-10155]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037880; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intended Repatriation: Oakland Museum of California, 
Oakland, CA

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 Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) 
intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition 
of objects of cultural patrimony 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 June 10, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Anna Bunting, Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak Street, 
Oakland, CA 94607, telephone (510) 318-8493, 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 
Oakland Museum of California, 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 259 cultural items or lots of items, represented by 188 
catalog numbers, have been requested for repatriation. The 259 objects 
of cultural patrimony are 76 baskets, three rattles, nine awls, 12 yo-
koli, two soap root brushes, seven lithics, six netted bags, one 
pictograph, one flute, one smoking pipe, one turtle charm, one singing 
bow, four gambling bones, four cooking sticks/tools, three meat drying 
poles, two fire drills, one root digger, one cloak, one ear ornament, 
three hair pins, two headnets, one headdress, one necklace, four 
tremblers, 18 magnesite beads, 31 acorn woodpecker scalps, and 63 lots 
or individual items of raw or processed natural materials (i.e. acorns 
and acorn meal; basket material; tumpline and cord; seeds, nuts and 
berries; eel meat, salmon eggs, grasshoppers, bark, medicinal roots, 
herbs, mushrooms, tobacco, deer sinew and brain, clam shell, maize).
    All of the items on this claim were acquired by Charles P. Wilcomb 
during various `collecting trips' that he undertook while he was the 
Curator of the Oakland Public Museum (OPM). All of the items requested 
for repatriation were donated to the OPM by either Charles P. Wilcomb, 
or by his daughter, Miss Louise Wilcomb, after his death in 1915. The 
Oakland Public Museum and its collections were merged into the Oakland 
Museum of California in 1969.
    Twenty-four of the items were collected during Wilcomb's September 
29-November 28, 1911, collecting trip. They were acquired by the 
Oakland Public Museum on December 11, 1911. Wilcomb collected these 
items from the following sources: Dr. Indian Jim's wife and Captain 
John Chinaman's wife in Bald Rock, Butte County; and Kittie George, 
Billy Williams, and an unnamed old woman at Camp Creek and Dogwood 
Rancheria, Butte County.
    One hundred and fifty-four of the items were collected during 
Wilcomb's November 24-December 27, 1913 collecting trip. They were 
acquired by the Oakland Public Museum on January 7, 1914. Wilcomb 
collected these items from the following sources: Hood Smith's wife 
(Cleo Martin Smith), Johnny Johnson's wife (Cordelia Martin Johnson), 
and an unnamed old woman in Brush Creek, Butte Co.; Fanny Wagner, Old 
Woman Maggie, Rose Edward, an unnamed old woman, and an unnamed 
individual at Ed Wagner's Camp, Hunter's Ravine, Plumas Co.; John 
Kennedy at Middle Fork, Feather River, Butte Co.; Dick Harris and his 
wife (Emeline Harry) at Dick Harris camp, Beau Creek, Butte Co (Dick 
Harris- listed in OPM ledgers- is a misspelling of Dick Harry, and Beau 
Creek is a misspelling of Bean Creek); Henry Flinn at Bald Rock, Butte 
Co; An unnamed individual at Berry Creek, Butte Co.; From the old 
council house near Sulphur Springs, Berry Creek, Butte Co.
    Eighty-one of the items were donated to the Oakland Public Museum 
on December 7, 1915 by Wilcomb's daughter, Louise Wilcomb, after her 
father's death in 1915. All of the items on this list were most likely 
collected sometime between 1911 and 1915 when Wilcomb was going on 
extensive collecting trips to Maidu ancestral territory. These items 
are noted as coming from the following locations: Brush Creek, Butte 
Co.; Bean Creek, Butte Co.; Buckshot Johnson at Dogwood Creek, Feather 
River Canyon, Butte Co.; Berry Creek, Butte Co. (including Bald Rock, 
Sulphur Springs, Beau Creek); Pulga, Feather River Canyon, Butte Co.; 
Hunter's Ravine, Butte Co; Stanfield Hill, Butte Co.; Billy Day camp, 
Sulphur Springs, Butte Co.; Big Meadows, Plumas Co.
    Two of the items included in the 1915 acquisition do not have 
collection location information. One of these items is a rattle that is 
very similar to another rattle being requested for repatriation that 
came from Dick Harris's camp. OMCA institutional records note that 
these two rattles were most likely ``made by the same group of people, 
and perhaps by the same person.'' The other item with no collection 
location information is a lot of Yo-Koli, however, as this item was 
originally cataloged in 1915 using the Konkow name (yo-koli) it is 
assumed to have come from Butte County.
    Information provided by the Tribe indicates that Berry Creek 
Rancheria of Maidu Indians of California is culturally affiliated with 
the items and places associated with this claim. In 2007, random 
testing of OMCA's basket collection was conducted using pXRF 
technology. Three baskets included in

[[Page 39642]]

this request for repatriation were tested at that time with positive 
results for mercury and negative results for arsenic. Two other baskets 
included on this request for repatriation were tested at that time, 
with negative results for both mercury and arsenic.

Determinations

    The Oakland Museum of California has determined that:
     The 259 objects of cultural patrimony described in this 
notice have ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural importance 
central to the Native American group, including any constituent sub-
group (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 
items described in this notice and the Berry Creek Rancheria of Maidu 
Indians of California.

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 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 June 10, 2024. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the Oakland Museum of California 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 Oakland Museum of 
California 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: April 30, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-10155 Filed 5-8-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P