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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 Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, and additional information on the determinations in this notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in the summary or related records. The National Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.

Abstract of Information Available

A total of 17 cultural items have been requested for repatriation. The 17 sacred objects/objects of cultural patrimony include hide rattles, a ceramic drum, prayer plume holders, basket hats/crowns, a ceremonial bow, a prayer stick, curing dolls, dance equipment, a headdress frame, a ceremonial hide painting, a medicine pouch, and a Yei mask.

A total of two of the hide rattles were purchased from William Beaver from the Sacred Mountain Trading post in 1966. A total of one hide rattle was donated to the museum by Maurice Maisel in 1964. The one ceramic drum was donated by Morton Sachs in 1976, who had purchased the drum in Arizona in the 1960's from the widow of a medicine person who had passed on. A total of two prayer plume holders were collected from the Lukachukai Mountains in Arizona by Charles Kelly and donated to the museum in 1936. A total of two basket hats/crowns, one ceremonial bow, one dance equipment, and one headdress frame were collected from a “cliff hole” in Rio Arriba, New Mexico by Frank Gorham, who donated to the museum in 1953. A total of one prayer stick was donated to the museum by John Cross in 1984 after being confiscated from a trader by U.S. Fish and Wildlife. A total of one curing doll was collected from Canyon del Muerto by Ann Morris sometime after 1877 and was donated to the museum by Gilbert Maxwell in 1963. A total of one curing doll was donated to the museum by Olive Gersbach in 1937. A total of one ceremonial hide painting was collected by Charles E. Faris, a former Bureau of Indian Affairs employee, who gifted it to Ethel Mae Bratton, whose estate donated to the museum in 1973. A total of one medicine pouch was purchased by C.D. Warman in 1975 from the Sotheby Parke-Bernet auction of the C.G. Wallace collection; Warman donated to the museum in 1980. A total of one Yei mask was found in the museum collection in 1975 with no additional information.

Heavy metals, including arsenic and lead, were documented in pigments of the ceremonial hide painting when the objects were tested with a pXRF in June, 2026 (Note: portable x-ray florescence, collects data on the chemical composition of items in a manner that is non-destructive). The Maxwell Museum has no record of pesticide use by any of our donors or past museum staff.

Determinations

The Maxwell Museum of Anthropology has determined that:

• The 17 sacred objects/objects of cultural patrimony described in this notice are, according to the Native American traditional knowledge of an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization, specific ceremonial objects needed by a traditional Native American religious leader for present-day adherents to practice traditional Native American religion, and have ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural importance central to the Native American group, including any constituent sub-group (such as a band, clan, lineage, ceremonial society, or other subdivision).
• There is a connection between the cultural items described in this notice and the Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico, & Utah.

Requests for Repatriation

Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items in this notice must be sent to the authorized representative identified in this notice under 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 August 21, 2026. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology must 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. The Maxwell Museum of Anthropology is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this notice and to any other consulting parties.

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

91 FR 46155