Totem pole stolen by actor John Barrymore returned to Alaska

[uawchild]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by uppityperson (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Toronto Star

HONOLULU—A stolen totem pole that went from the garden decor of two golden-age Hollywood actors to the basement of a Hawaii museum has been returned to Alaska tribal members.

Screen legend John Barrymore was travelling along the Alaska coast by yacht and directed crew members to take the totem pole from an unoccupied village in 1931, said University of Alaska Anchorage professor Steve Langdon, who has long researched the object. They sawed it in three pieces.

Barrymore, star of Grand Hotel and grandfather of actress Drew Barrymore, displayed the pole in the garden of his California estate.
After Barrymore’s death, actor Vincent Price, known for horror flicks such as House of Wax, and his wife bought the item and also used it as a yard decoration. The couple donated it to the Honolulu Museum of Art in 1981.

Read more: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/10/23/totem-pole-stolen-by-actor-john-barrymore-returned-to-alaska.html

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Good. Restoring aboriginal/first nations cultural artifacts to their rightful owners is an important acknowledgement of the civil rights and human dignity of these people.

[jtuck004]

1. Good. I guess we can't give them back the lives of ~50 million people, or the towns

Last edited Fri Oct 23, 2015, 12:34 PM - Edit history (1)

and homes and wealth we stole. But they can have their totem back, in pieces, and incomplete. And they can put it up in their POW camp.

Pretty good analogy for American Indian history.

[NonMetro]

2. If The Village Was Abandoned When Barrymore Found The Pole In 1931 -

How do we know who the rightful owner is?

[groundloop]

3. "Unoccupied" is not the same as Abandoned

They very well could have been hunting or fishing at the time.

In any case, this story is a sad reminder of how the wealthy think of everyone else.

[jtuck004]

4. That's the same excuse our founders used after they killed off the occupants of a village.They

could then steal and cannibalize the remans to their heart's, and stomach's, content.

We know because of history, the story of the theft, the methods of carving, who the people were and who their descendants are.

[maxsolomon]

6. That's the Modus Operandi of nearly every war in human history

Even Northwest Native tribes operated that way - the Haida were notorious raiders and slavers.

Barrymore was just a thief.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. Dupe, not LBN

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141240799

[Myrina]

7. Was the the totem pole Vincent Price talked to during the Brady Bunch / Hawaii adventure?

[uppityperson]

8. Locking, would you please add to the existing LBN thread?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141240799