Bishop Museum artifacts on loan must be returned
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
A federal review committee has found the Bishop Museum's decision to loan 83 rare Hawaiian artifacts to a Native Hawaiian group was "flawed" and that the items need to be returned.
Advertiser library photo • April 2000
William Y. Brown, president and chief executive officer of Bishop Museum, attended the hearing in Minnesota last week and said he recommended that the items be returned because of mistakes made by museum staff members in allowing the Native Hawaiian group to take the artifacts, known variously as the Kawaihae Cave complex collection and the Forbes Cave artifacts.
A wooden image from the Forbes Cave collection is among the artifacts on loan to a Native Hawaiian group.
He said the three-year controversy has hurt the museum's reputation for integrity.
"Errors were made," Brown said yesterday. "That's wrong and we really need to reset the process at a point before the error was made."
The issue concerns the artifacts taken from a Big Island cave in 1905 and kept at the museum until February 2000, when museum officials released them to Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai'i Nei, drawing objections from other Hawaiians who made claims on the objects. The items include a carved wood figure and two stick 'aumakua.
The artifacts fall under the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which is administered by the National Park Service and provides for return of human remains and other significant cultural items to Native American and Native Hawaiian groups. The Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts had requested the federal review of the case.
Groups claiming connection
Brown and La'akea Suganuma, of the Royal Academy, both said the federal committee said the matter needs to go back to the 13 recognized Hawaiian groups that are claiming a connection to the artifacts. The committee said the items need to be returned by Hui Malama and that the artifacts be made available to all 13 groups while the discussion of their fate continues.
Hui Malama is a group committed to the respectful reburial of human bones and Native Hawaiian cultural objects. The group has said the items taken from the Big Island cave are the equivalent of family treasures and personal items buried with the dead and that they were not meant to be disturbed or displayed. Efforts to reach a representative of the group were unsuccessful yesterday.
Both Suganuma and Brown said they agreed on their description of the errors made and they both noted that the federal committee commended "the good-faith efforts" of both sides. "Now the people involved want to set things right," Suganuma said.
It is not clear what recourse is available to the museum if the items are not returned. Legal action and appeals to federal authorities are a possibility, but would likely take years to resolve.
Proper treatment debated
The case created an emotional debate among Hawaiians and historians over the proper treatment of important cultural items. Some say by loaning the items to Hui Malama the museum showed respect for the Hawaiian culture, while others questioned whether it would lead to the loss, damage or sale of the items, and a lost opportunity for education.
Suganuma said the committee's decision means the museum is still responsible for the artifacts. Hui Malama has said it would refuse to return the items and said they had been returned to the Big Island cave from which they were removed.
"They have to officially recall the loan," Suganuma said. "They have to make all of those items available to the recognized claimants so they have to either get them back from Hui Malama or recover them themselves."
Under the previous museum director, W. Donald Duckworth, the museum admitted it erred and apologized, then turned the matter over to a divided group of 13 organizations and individuals with cultural claims to the items. Brown took over as director in October 2001.
Brown expects to send letters within the next two weeks to Hui Malama to begin the recall and to all 13 claimants to reopen the discussion about their disposition.
He said the items need to be brought back partly to ensure their safety. "There is a real issue about whether they are there," Brown said.
He said he hopes to see the matter resolved in weeks "or a month or a little more, not a year."
Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.
