Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 4, Number 5, 1 May 1987 — Museum Loans Share Cultural Heritage [ARTICLE]

Museum Loans Share Cultural Heritage

Loans from Bishop Museum collections are sharing the cultural heritage of Hawai'i with the Smithsonian lnstitution National Museum of Natural History and with the neighbor islands. Various plantation-era items from the Museum's current show, "Centennial Celebration: An Early Record of Government Contract Japanese Workers in Hawai'i," are to be included as part of a five-year exhibition at the Smithsonian. For the section titled "East Meets West," Bishop Museum is loaning typical work clothes and possessions of Japanese plantation workers. Among the items on loan are a bento (luneh) box, a pair of hand covers, an apron, sunbonnet, a pillow and a pair of geta (wooden clogs). The entire exhibition, "With Liberty and Justice For All: The Japanese Experience and the U.S. Constitution," opens in September, 1987. It will trace the history of Japanese immigrants in the United States while examining key constitutional issues. Completing a neighbor island tour in June, an exhibition of traditional Hawaiian quilts includes an awardwinning quilt from Bishop Museum collection. About 58 years old, the "Pikake-Tuberose" quilt was made by well-known Hawaiian quilter Hannah Baker and is considered one of her most outstanding. It features a white-appliqued design handstitched on a green background. The quilt won an award in 1978 at the Great State Quilt Contest in New York and was donated to Bishop Museum in 1984 by Baker's daughter. The quilt exhibition was organized by the Arts Couneil of Hawaii, with support from the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts and Aloha Airlines.