DON’T FORGET TO VISIT THE SPECIAL EXHIBITION AT THE MUSEUM

By Samoa News staff reporters@samoanews.com Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The American Samoa Council on Arts, Culture and Humanities has a special exhibit on display that focuses on American Samoa’s journey with the United States, called America 250. Museum Administrator Marion Mageo says the artifacts in the display have been in storage, but since the museum renovations they have been put in display cases and are being exhibited for the first time in many decades. The exhibition opened Thursday, July 2, at the Jean P. Haydon Museum; and, according to Ms Mageo will be on display at the museum for an unspecified amount of time — giving the public ample time to view it and learn about the history of American Samoa’s association with the United States. The artifacts on display, however are much more than time pieces of US association. While including a variety of artifacts that identify key moments in American Samoa’s history with the U.S., such as a tanoa that belonged to the first governor of American Samoa Benjamin Tilley, and the blueprint of the design of the American Samoa flag by Fareti Sotoa in 1956, the exhibition also highlights cultural arts/ crafts that were created/ made by people/ artists — some known, others not — as a way of life, the embodiment of the faaSamoa. There are the drawings and wood carvings by Master carver Sven Ortquist, the acknowledgment of Kolone Faiivae Leose as the early 1900’s Master siapo maker of the free-style tapa that Master siapo maker Mary Pritchard said taught and influenced her own work that can be found in museums around the world, and of course there are works by unknown master weavers of the iconic ‘ie tonga and ‘ie sina. And one cannot have such an exhibit without tatatau tools being displayed with their traditional use shown through photos of a Master Tatatau at work. Then there are the woven baskets and hooks made for fishing, a canoe that was once a common sight on our reefs, and wooden clubs made for war. Given the available space and limited resources, with which the Jean P. Hayden Museum has to work, the America 250 Exhibition is worthy of an hour or two of your study/ perusal. It’s open to the public, free of charge. Enjoy your ‘self’. (Sources: talanei.com/ Artist Reggie A. Meredith Fitiao, MFA) [Courtesy photos] Section: Local News Tags: EXHIBITION AT THE MUSEUM
2026-07-13 18:17:16