Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation repatriates more than 100 cultural items from New York museum

On Tuesday, a delegation from the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation in B.C. took back possession of culturally significant items from the American Museum of Natural History in New York. 

The items from the Whalers Washing House, or shrine, are expected to arrive back in the community, about 250 kilometres northwest of Victoria on Vancouver Island, Monday.

"It's not just an artifact for us, it is a part of our culture," said Mike Maquinna, chief of Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation. 

Maquinna did not travel to New York with the delegation but saw the shrine in the '90s and has been working on bringing it home ever since. 

The Whalers Washing House is a ceremonial structure where whalers from the community prepared for hunting. The items being returned include 88 carved wooden human figures, four carved wooden whales, and 16 human crania.

Maquinna said he is proud and energized by the idea of the items returning home. 

"We felt that it was taken away underhandedly or sold underhandedly and that we were quite disappointed in that and hopefully once it returns that we'll start feeling that energy that I'm personally feeling today," said Maquinna. 

The items were collected from the community in the early 1900s by George Hunt, who had a Tlingit mother and an English father who worked for the Hudson's Bay Company. 

Hunt grew up in Fort Rupert in Kwakwaka'waka territory on Northern Vancouver Island. 

According to the museum, Hunt purchased the items for $500 from two elders while much of the community was away on a hunting trip. Hunt was working for the anthropologist Franz Boas, who was creating a collection of Northwest Coast items for the American Museum of Natural History. 

They have been stored in the museum since 1904.

The removal of the Whalers Washing House was the subject of a documentary by the National Film Board of Canada in 1994 called The Washing of Tears.

In 1996, Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation voted to have the shrine returned for a future cultural centre in Yuquot. According to the museum, they received a formal transfer request in April 2024. 

The items of the shrine have not been on display at the museum, but a small-scale model was made in 1941 that was displayed until the museum underwent renovations in 2018. 

Peter Whiteley, curator of North American Ethnology at American Museum of Natural History, said the history of collecting for museums is complicated but this was a clear case of the need for repatriation. 

"We were very grateful to the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation for how gracious they were towards us and they thanked us for taking care of the shrine for all these years," said Whiteley.

"It was a very, very positive experience all around."

Maquinna said the community will discuss next steps for the items.