2024-04454. Notice of Inventory Completion: Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK

AGENCY:

National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Gilcrease Museum has completed an inventory of human remains and has determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The human remains were removed from an unknown location.

DATES:

Repatriation of the human remains in this notice may occur on or after April 3, 2024.

ADDRESSES:

Laura Bryant, Gilcrease Museum, 800 S Tucker Drive, Tulsa, OK 74104, 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 the Gilcrease Museum. 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 inventory or related records held by the Gilcrease Museum.

Description

Human remains representing, at minimum, three individuals were removed from an unknown location. Around 1900, Emil Lenders, a painter and collector, traveled throughout the Plains and acquired these three scalp locks. Thomas Gilcrease purchased Lenders' collection, including these three individuals, in 1950. Thomas Gilcrease transferred his collection to the City of Tulsa in 1955. The three individuals are of unknown age and sex. No associated funerary objects are present.

Cultural Affiliation

The human remains 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: biological information, oral traditions, historical information, and museum records.

Determinations

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

• The human remains described in this notice represent the physical remains of three individuals of Native American ancestry.
• There is a relationship of shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the human remains and associated funerary objects described in this notice and the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma and the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska.

Requests for Repatriation

Written requests for repatriation of the human remains in this notice must be sent to the Responsible Official identified in ADDRESSES . Requests for repatriation may be submitted by:

1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this notice.

2. 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 human remains in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after April 3, 2024. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the Gilcrease Museum must determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the human remains are considered a single request and not competing requests. The Gilcrease Museum 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 before 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. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.10.

Dated: February 23, 2024.

Melanie O'Brien,

Manager, National NAGPRA Program.