[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 11 (Thursday, January 16, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 2385]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-1066]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Notice of Intent to Repatriate a Cultural Item in the Possession
of the W.H. Over State Museum of the South Dakota State Historical
Society, Vermillion, SD
AGENCY: National Park Service
ACTION: Notice
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Notice is hereby given under the Native American Graves Protection
and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3005 (a)(2), of the intent to
repatriate a cultural item in the possession of the W. H. Over State
Museum of the South Dakota State Historical Society, Vermillion, SD,
which meets the definition of ``object of cultural patrimony'' under
Section 2 of the Act.
The object is a drum made from a wooden washtub with hide stretched
over the top and tacked with metal nails. The washtub, ivory in color,
has four rope handles and is braced around the middle and near the base
with heavy wire. A brass plaque attached to the drum reads: ``Northern
Ponca Hethushka, or War Dance Drum Donated to the South Dakota Museum
by Thomas Knudsen October 5, 1963 Restored to its Original Condition
under the Direction of Peter Leclaire.''
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, when the Northern Ponca were
being terminated as a federally-recognized Indian tribe by the Federal
government, the Keeper of the Hethu'shka Drum, Thomas Knudsen, removed
the drum from the tribal community building for safekeeping. Mr.
Knudsen then apparently placed the drum in the hands of Peter LeClaire,
then Tribal Historian, in order to have the drum refurbished. The drum
was never returned. The drum is noted as coming into the collection of
the W.H. Over Museum (then the South Dakota Museum) in the fall of
1963, but no deed of gift has been located. It is likely that Mr.
LeClaire actually donated the drum.
The drum's cultural affiliation with the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska is
clearly identified through museum records, donor information, and by
representatives of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. Representatives of the
Ponca Tribe of Nebraska state that this drum is used for a variety of
Ponca dances and ceremonies, including the Hethu'shka, a warrior
society. Further, representatives of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska state
that this drum has ongoing historical, traditional, and cultural
importance central to the tribe, and could not have been alienated,
appropriated, or conveyed by any individual regardless of whether or
not the individual was a member of the tribe.
Officials of the W.H. Over State Museum have determined that,
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(D), this cultural item has ongoing
historical, traditional, and cultural importance central to the culture
itself, and could not have been alienated, appropriated, or conveyed by
any individual. Officials of the W.H. Over State 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 the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska.
This notice has been sent to officials of the Ponca Tribe of
Nebraska. Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes
itself to be culturally affiliated with these objects should contact
Ms. Cathleen MacDonald, Assistant Curator, W.H. Over State Museum, 414
E. Clark St., Vermillion, SD 57069, telephone (605) 677-5273 before
February 18, 1997. Repatriation of this object to the Ponca Tribe of
Nebraska may begin after that date if no additional claimants come
forward.
Dated: January 8, 1997.
Francis P. McManamon,
Departmental Consulting Archeologist,
Chief, Archeology and Ethnography Program.
[FR Doc. 97-1066 Filed 1-15-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-F
