2024-02558. Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Goucher College, Baltimore, MD

AGENCY:

National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Goucher College 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. The thirteen cultural items were removed from areas in the present-day states of New Mexico and Arizona.

DATES:

Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on or after March 11, 2024.

ADDRESSES:

Elaine Meyer-Lee, Provost, Goucher College, 1021 Dulaney Valley Road, Baltimore, MD 21204, telephone [phone], email [e-mail].

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 Goucher College. 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 summary or related records held by Goucher College.

Description

The 13 cultural items were removed from areas in the present-day states of New Mexico and Arizona in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They were gathered by John Franklin Goucher and other Methodist missionaries who toured the western United States and who were friends of John Goucher, one of the founders of the Woman's College of Baltimore, later known as Goucher College. John Goucher donated his collection of Native American cultural items to Goucher College in 1921. The 13 objects of cultural patrimony are seven jars, two bowls, three pitchers, and one pot.

Cultural Affiliation

The cultural items 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: geographical information; historical information; expert opinion.

Determinations

Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations, Goucher College has determined that:

• The 13 cultural items described above have ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural importance central to the Native American group or culture itself, rather than property owned by an individual.
• There is a relationship of shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the cultural items and the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico.

Requests for Repatriation

Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items in this notice must be sent to the Responsible Official identified in 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 March 11, 2024. If competing requests for repatriation are received, Goucher College will 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. Goucher College is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this notice.

This notice was submitted on or after the effective date of the revised regulations (88 FR 86452, December 13, 2023, effective January 12, 2024). As the notice conforms to the mandatory format of the Federal Register and includes the required information, the National Park Service is publishing this notice as submitted.

Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3004, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9.

Dated: February 1, 2024.

Melanie O'Brien,

Manager, National NAGPRA Program.