March 15 , 2006
MEDIA CONTACT: Caroline Witherspoon
or Jocelyn Collado
Becker Communications
(808) 533-4165
BISHOP MUSEUM EXTENDS AGREEMENT WITH FRENCH POLYNESIAN GOVERNMENT TO STUDY AND PRESERVE THE AREA’S CULTURAL AND NATURAL HISTORY
Papeete, Tahiti, FRENCH POLYNESIA – Representatives from Hawaii’s Bishop Museum, including president Dr. Bill Brown and renowned anthropologist Dr. Yosi Sinoto, traveled to Tahiti to sign a cooperative agreement on Wednesday, March 15th with the Government of French Polynesia to continue their relationship in researching and recording archeological sites throughout French Polynesia. The agreement is only one of a few agreements in the world that French Polynesia holds with private institutions.
“Bishop Museum’s goal is to cooperate with French Polynesia in the preservation, study and education of the cultural and natural history of the islands,” said Brown. “We are celebrating and reinforcing a century-long partnership between Bishop Museum and French Polynesia.”
The broad-ranging agreement provides a framework for the sharing of knowledge between Bishop Museum and French Polynesia’s ministry of culture and education, including conducting joint research, providing technological training and logistical assistance, and cataloging cultural artifacts.
About 3,700 items in Bishop Museum’s Ethnology collection originate from the islands of French Polynesia, including a significant number of pre-, during, and post-contact artifacts. Among the important pieces in the museum’s collection are an extremely rare Tahitian mourning costume displayed in Polynesian Hall and Marquesan ceremonial feather headdresses, two of which were recently loaned to the Metropolitan Museum in New York for display.
The museum also boasts a large collection of fishing implements, more than 700 stone tools from the Society Islands, large drums and other musical implements, and rare barkcloth images from the Marquesas.
The agreement allows the museum to expand its French Polynesian cultural collection and continue its internship programs to teach Tahitians, and other French Polynesians, how to research their culture. Most recently, Dr. Sinoto conducted the first methodical field survey of Huahine in French Polynesia.
Sinoto’s archaeological digs and his study and restoration of the traditional marae (sacred lands and structures) play a significant role in the understanding of pre-contact Polynesian culture. “The continuing research allows us to know not only identify the artifacts, but also to know how they came to be and what their significance is in the context of history,” said Sinoto. “Through research, people of the Pacific will learn a little bit more about themselves.”
A treasured resource of Hawaiian history and heritage Bishop Museum was founded in 1889 by Charles Reed Bishop as a tribute to his wife Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last descendant of the royal Kamehameha dynasty. Located at 1525 Bernice Street, the Museum is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $14.95 for adults; $11.95 for youth 4-12 years, special rates for kama‘āina, seniors and military; children under 4 years and Bishop Museum Members are free. For information, call 847-3511 or visit www.bishopmuseum.org.