[Federal Register: May 23, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 101)]
[Notices]
[Page 30151-30152]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr23my08-98]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Notice of Intent to Repatriate a Cultural Item: The Nelson
Gallery Foundation, Kansas City, MO
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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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 a cultural item in the possession of The Nelson Gallery
Foundation, Kansas City, MO, that meets the definition of ``sacred
object'' 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 cultural
item. The National Park Service is not responsible for the
determinations in this notice.
The cultural item is a Prayer Stick (2002.5.1). It is carved from
maple wood, measuring 6 3/4 inches by 1 1/2 inches by 1/4 inches. The
central length of the object consists of an elongated, softly curved
diamond shape terminating at the upper and lower ends in square
configurations, surmounted at the top by a small diamond-shaped
projection. Occupying the upper square of the front surface are incised
images of a house and four trees. Below, occupying the length of the
central panel, are three identical sets of carved symbols. All of these
features conform to the classic form of other documented Kickapoo
prayer sticks. Printed in ink on the reverse side are old catalogue
numbers, E89A and M805A.
In 1939, the prayer stick was collected on the Potawatomi
Reservation in Kansas from Martha Jackson, a Kickapoo woman who
apparently married into the Potawatomi tribe, by Floyd Schultz, a
prominent Clay Center, KS, businessman and civic leader, who was also
an amateur archeologist and ethnologist. Research suggests that Mr.
Schultz obtained the prayer stick legally and ethically from Mrs.
Jackson. Sometime within the ten years following Mr. Schultz's death in
1951, the cultural item was sold by his widow to Pat Read, an Indian
trader and art dealer based in Lawrence, KS, as part of a larger
ethnographic collection. Mr. Read sold the piece in the mid-1960s to
Mr. and Mrs. Larry Frank, Arroyo Hondo, NM. In 2002, The Nelson Gallery
Foundation, which also does business as The Nelson-Atkins Museum of
Art, purchased the cultural item from Mr. and Mrs. Frank.
During consultation, members of the Kennekuk Church of the Kickapoo
Tribe of Indians of the Kickapoo Reservation in Kansas presented
evidence that the prayer stick met NAGPRA's definition as a ``sacred
object'' and is needed for the practice of a traditional Native
American religion by present-day adherents.
Officials of The Nelson Gallery Foundation have determined that,
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(C), the one cultural item described
above is a
[[Page 30152]]
specific ceremonial object needed by traditional Native American
religious leaders for the practice of traditional Native American
religions by their present-day adherents. Officials of The Nelson
Gallery Foundation also have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C.
3001 (2), there is a relationship of shared group identity that can be
reasonably traced between the sacred object and the Kickapoo Tribe of
Indians of the Kickapoo Reservation in Kansas.
Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to
be culturally affiliated with the sacred object should contact Gaylord
Torrence, Fred and Virginia Merrill Curator of American Indian Art, The
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525 Oak St., Kansas City, MO 64111,
telephone (816) 751-0427, before June 23, 2008. Repatriation of the
sacred object to the Kickapoo Tribe of Indians of the Kickapoo
Reservation in Kansas may proceed after that date if no additional
claimants come forward.
The Nelson Gallery Foundation is responsible for notifying the
Kickapoo Tribe of Indians of the Kickapoo Reservation in Kansas that
this notice has been published.
Dated: April 23, 2008.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-11576 Filed 5-22-08; 8:45 am]
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