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 Michigan State University, 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 141 cultural items have been requested for repatriation. The 141 unassociated funerary objects are 34 groundstone tools, 34 projectile point, 14 stone tools, 12 pipes and pipe bowls, six pendants, four flat round stones, four drills, five bird and boat stones, three pottery pieces, three effigy, two bar atlatl weight, two knives, two copper celts, one copper adze, one spear head, one stone with carved face, one stone with crossing lines, one worked pebble, one spindle whorl, one carved stone canoe, one spear, one bone awl, one carved rectangular stone, one metal axe and one harpoon from various locations in Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph, and Van Buren Counties, Michigan; three lots of artifacts from Moccasin Bluff (20BE8); and one lot of artifacts from near the Fort St. Joseph site (20BE23).

A total of 49 items are from the Chamberlain Memorial Museum collection, which was donated to Michigan State University by the Chamberlain Warren Museum of Three Rivers, Michigan, in 1952. A total of 84 items are from the Donald Boudeman collection, an avocational collector whose collection was donated to Michigan State University in 1961 by Donna Boudeman after his passing. The remaining eight items were donated pre-1920, and for which we do not have detailed records. Based on the geographic location from which these objects were collected, they are culturally affiliated with the Potawatomi. No known hazardous ( printed page 48938) substances have been used to treat the objects.

Determinations

Michigan State University has determined that:

• The 141 unassociated funerary objects described in this notice are reasonably believed to have been placed intentionally with or near human remains, and are connected, either at the time of death or later as part of the death rite or ceremony of a Native American culture according to the Native American traditional knowledge of a lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization. The unassociated funerary objects have been identified by a preponderance of the evidence as related to human remains, specific individuals, or families, or removed from a specific burial site or burial area of an individual or individuals with cultural affiliation to an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization.
• There is a connection between the cultural items described in this notice and the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Oklahoma; Forest County Potawatomi Community, Wisconsin; Hannahville Indian Community, Michigan; Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi (previously listed as Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan); Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, Michigan; Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Michigan and Indiana; and the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation.

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 September 2, 2026. If competing requests for repatriation are received, Michigan State University 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. Michigan State University 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 48937