[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 41 (Wednesday, March 1, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11075-11076]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-4829]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items in the Possession
of the Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
AGENCY: National Park Service.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Notice is hereby given under the Native American Graves Protection
and Repatriation Act, 43 CFR 10.10 (a)(3), of the intent to repatriate
cultural items in the possession of the Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
which meet the definition of ``object of cultural patrimony'' under
Section 2 of the Act.
The five cultural items are a Motoki Society buffalo headdress
bundle consisting of a parfleche and a cap made of bison fur with
horns; a Motoki Society belt constructed from a bison tail; a Dog
Society bundle consisting of parfleche and a feather headdress, the
headdress has a leather cap and trailer with feathers (possibly hawk)
attached; a Dog Society headdress which consists of a separate head
piece and trailer or sash; and a Dog Society bundle consisting of a
parfleche, dog skin sash, and a stick rattle covered with red flannel.
The Motoki Society buffalo headdress bundle was in the keeping of a
society member named Black Faced Woman until 1938, when her son, Jack
Low Horn, sold this bundle to Madge Hardin Walters. In 1939, Walters
sold the bundle to the Denver Art Museum where it was accessioned as
1939.127. Oral traditions of the descendants of Black Faced Woman state
that she died in 1946.
The Motoki Society belt is a component of a Motoki Society buffalo
headdress bundle which was in the keeping of a society member named
Handsome Woman until her death in early 1938. In June 1938, Handsome
Woman's daughter, Mrs. Strangling Wolf, sold the bundle to Madge Hardin
[[Page 11076]]
Walters. In 1939, Walters sold the bundle to the Denver Art Museum
where it was accessioned as 1939.68. In 1948, this bundle was exchanged
to the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University,
Cambridge, MA, but the belt was retained by the Denver Art Museum.
In 1939, the Dog Society bundle was sold by its keeper, a citizen
of the Piegan Nation named Bull Plume, to Percy Creighton, a citizen of
the Blood Tribe. In April 1939, Creighton sold the headdress bundle to
Madge Hardin Walters. In 1940, Walters sold this bundle to the Denver
Art Museum where it was accessioned as 1940.157.
In 1937, the Dog Society headdress was in the keeping of an unnamed
woman who was probably a member of the Dog Society until her death in
March or April of 1937. In April 1937, a citizen of the Blood Tribe
named Big Sorrel Horse acquired the headdress and sold it to Madge
Hardin Walters. In 1938, Walters sold this headdress to the Denver Art
Museum, where it was accessioned as 1938.142.
In 1938, the Dog Society sash bundle was sold by a man named
Running Weasel to Percy Creighton, and that same year Creighton sold
this bundle to Madge Hardin Walters. In January 1939, Walters sold this
Dog Society sash bundle to the Denver Art Museum where it was
accessioned as 1939.124. Creighton's correspondence to Walters contains
the statement that the Dog Society wished to retain the bundle for
society usage, but Running Weasel sold it anyway.
Denver Art Museum records show that the above five cultural items
originated from two societies of the Blood Tribe during the 1930s.
Consultation in 1998 with representatives and religious leaders of the
Blood Tribe confirm the identifications of the cultural items as
originating from the two societies of the tribe. The Blood Tribe is one
of four tribes comprising the Blackfoot Confederacy, which also
includes the Blackfeet Nation, the Piegan Nation, and the Siksika
Nation. The present-day Blackfoot Confederacy is descended from the
four tribes of the Blackfoot Confederacy as it existed during the
1930s.
The Blackfeet Nation, acting on behalf of the Blackfoot
Confederacy, submitted a claim to the Denver Art Museum containing
evidence showing that society organizations hold communal title to
bundles which are ritually transferred from one keeper to the next.
Denver Art Museum's analysis of the records of transactions showed that
the individuals who sold each of the above five cultural items were
acting as individuals who lacked authority to alienate these
communally-owned cultural items.
Based on the above mentioned information, officials of the Denver
Art Museum have determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 (d)(4), these
five cultural items have ongoing historical, traditional, and cultural
importance central to the tribe itself, and could not have been
alienated, appropriated, or conveyed by any individual and were
considered inalienable at the time the objects were separated from the
group. Officials of the Denver Art Museum have also determined that,
pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 (e), there is a relationship of shared group
identity which can be reasonably traced between these items and the
Blackfeet Nation on behalf of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Blackfeet
Nation, Piegan Nation, Blood Tribe, and Siksika Nation).
This notice has been sent to officials of the Blackfeet Nation and
the Blackfoot Confederacy (Blackfeet Nation, Piegan Nation, Blood
Tribe, and Siksika Nation). Representatives of any other Indian tribe
that believes itself to be culturally affiliated with these objects
should contact Nancy J. Blomberg, Curator of Native Arts, Denver Art
Museum, 100 West 14th Avenue Parkway, Denver, CO 80204; telephone:
(720) 913-0161 before March 31, 2000. Repatriation of these objects to
the Blackfeet Nation on behalf of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Blackfeet
Nation, Piegan Nation, Blood Tribe, and Siksika Nation) may begin after
that date if no additional claimants come forward.
Dated: February 24, 2000.
Francis P. McManamon,
Departmental Consulting Archeologist, Manager, Archeology and
Ethnography Program.
[FR Doc. 00-4829 Filed 2-29-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-F