Browse Items · The American Pacific Rim: Colonisation, Conflict and Connections, 1800-Present

Kwakwaka’wakw Mask 1919

The source is a mask that was made in 1919 by Willie Seaweed. The mask depicts a face with hair; it is mainly black and grey with pops of read, orange and yellow.

As the mask was created in 1919 it is not an antique piece of artwork. Pieces like…

Tags: 20th century, British Columbia, Ceremony, European, Europeans, Indigenous, Indigenous Peoples, Kwakwaka'wakw, Mask, Material Culture, Material Object, ritualism, Spirituality, Tourism, Traditional Dress

Franz & Pope Sock Knitting Machine

This is a colour image of a sock knitting machine used by the girls at the Kamehameha School. It was co-patented by Ida May Pope’s father, William Pope, alongside William Franz. The existence of such device in a school, and its creation for the…

Quilt

This quilt was passed down a family after being given to Mark P. Robinson, Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Hawaiian government. Quilting is important in Hawaiian history as early missionaries taught it to Hawaiian women to which they then adapted…

Tags: 19th century, Assimilation, Christianity, Cultural Assimilation, Culture, Flag, Hawai’i, Hawaii, Hawaiian flag, Material Culture, Material Object, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Missionaries, Politics, Quilt, Textiles, Women

Surfboard/ Papa Hee Nalu

The object in question here is what people stereotypically associate Hawaiians with, the surfboard. The surfboard is a cultural and religious manifestation of indigenous Hawaiian people’s exceptional skills in water transport and leisure. However,…

Tags: 19th century, Christianity, Cultural Appropriation, Culture, Hawai’i, Hawaii, Indigenous, Indigenous Peoples, Material Culture, Material Object, Monarchy, Papa Hee Nalu, Religion, Sport, Surfboard, Surfing, Traditions, Transport

Black Lace Cap

A black satin silk cap worn on the back of the head, potentially for evening wear also known as a ‘nightcap’. This cap was in circa around 1850 to 1870 and used in California. The cap has a wire circular frame covered with fine black “China” silk…

Tags: “China” silk, 19th century, Black satin silk, California, Chinese, Chinese immigration, Fashion, Material Culture, Material Object, Silk Habotai, Women

Perfume Bottle

A deep purple glass bottle with an engraved patterned silver screw-on cap which would have been used to hold perfume. This object may have been in circa around 1830 to 1840. The size of the bottle is 9” wide and 5” deep. The perfume used would…

Tags: 19th century, Ambergris, California, Cape Horn, Europe, Glass, Material Culture, Material Object, Pacific Coast, Perfume, Sperm Whale, USA, Women

Brick thrown from the SS Komagata Maru (1914)

Physical artifact symbolising the Komagata Maru incident in 1914, this brick was thrown by passengers onboard at Policemen boarding the ship out of desperation and as a sign of resistance and frustration of being denied entrance into Canada. The…

Tags: 20th century, Anti-Immigration, Archivist, British Columbia, Discrimination, exclusionary policy, Immigrants, Immigration, Komagata Maru, Major J.J. Mathew, Material Culture, Material Object, Police, Protest, Resistance, ship, Sikh Immigration, Transportation, Vancouver

Ku’u Hae Aloha (My Beloved Flag)

This Hawaiian quilt has four Hawaiian national flags located around the edge with the Hawaiian coat of arms located in the center. It also has the Hawaiian phrase “Ku’u Hae Aloha” appliquéd over the coat of arms, meaning “my Beloved Flag”.

The…

Tags: 20th century, Culture, Flag, Hawai'i, Hawaii, Hawaiian Independence, Indigenous, Indigenous customs, Indigenous Peoples, Ku’u Hae Aloha, Material Culture, Material Object, National Identity, Nationalism, Quilt, Textiles, Traditions

Necklace (Lei Niho Palaoa)

The Lei Niho Palaoa is a necklace made up of braided human hair and the ivory from whales. The necklace was mostly worn by Hawaiian nobility and was used to indicate their heritage from the Gods. However due to an increasing American influence which…

Tags: 19th century, Americanisation, Christianity, Culture, Fashion, Hawai'i, Hawaii, Indigenous, Indigenous Peoples, Jewellery, Lei, Lei Niho Palaoa, Material Culture, Material Object, Necklace, Nobility, Spirituality, Traditional Dress, Westernisation

Pineapple shipping crate

This is a pineapple shipping crate which was used to transport pineapples. It was packed by the Pearl City Fruit Company in Honolulu in the early 20th century. George Lycurgus was the man who founded the Pearl City Fruit Company in 1892. He was a…

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