The Northwest Coast Hall as it looks today. Photo via AMNH.

By Carol Tannenhauser

“I want to thank the people responsible for the work that is going to be done here with a prayer song blessing this collection and those who work here and who visit,” said Chief Kwaxalanukwame’’ Namugwis/Bill Cranmer, of the ‘Namgis First Nation, Kwakwaka’wakw.

He shook a ceremonial rattle and began to chant, his words resounding in the immense, dark, cool Northwest Coast Hall of the American Museum of Natural History, the museum’s oldest gallery, opened in 1899 – and barely touched since.

That is about to change. On Monday morning, museum officials stood with representatives of the First Nations communities of the Pacific Northwest – British Columbia, Alaska, and Washington State – to announce plans for a major renovation of the hall, along with the conservation and preservation of nearly 1,000 artifacts. Museum conservationists have already started on six of the 78 massive totem poles, which are as iconic as the museum’s dinosaurs and planetarium.

A totem pole that the museum is working on now. Photo by Carol Tannenhauser.

“With an eye on both history and the present, we are pleased to be enhancing this important and magnificent hall to reflect the living cultures of the Pacific Northwest,” said Ellen V. Futter, president of the museum. “We are particularly gratified to be working with First Nation communities, deepening the museum’s collaboration with indigenous communities as we prepare to enhance and enliven the gallery’s exhibits and presentations.”

The collaboration dates back to the late 19th century when the renowned anthropologist Franz Boas, then curator for the museum, teamed with George Hunt – the chief’s great grandfather – to amass the collection. “They not only collected the masks and the poles,” said the chief, “they collected the history that goes with them, preventing those pieces and the history of those pieces from dying.”

Ellen Futter and members of First Nations communities. Photo via AMNH.

“This collection is of landmark importance to New York City and the world for its communication of First Nations ideas and practices and for its central values of cultural tolerance and mutual respect,” said Peter Whiteley, the current curator. “In renovation, we now seek to enhance these sensibilities with current perspectives, not ignoring the sometimes problematic history of collecting that affects this hall and all others of the period.”

The museum has been criticized for its exhibits on Native Americans before. “The current state of display at the American Museum of Natural History is embarrassing and ineffective in communicating the complexity of non-western art,” Indian Country Today wrote in 2013. “…its collections are a product of an era much different than the present day. It’s time that they reflected the wishes of their creators and also current aesthetic and ethnic discourse.”

Another First Nations elder at the ceremony said, “Someone asked me, ‘Is it hard to see these objects of yours in this museum?’ I said, ‘Yes.’” But he added, “I came here to thank this great institution for the way it takes care of our ancestral artifacts.”

He told the story of the “repatriation” – return to its own country – of a canoe prow from the museum by the Raven Beaver House of Angoon, Alaska.

“When Angoon was destroyed in 1882, they gathered up all our canoes and set them on fire, and they set our village on fire,” he said. “The canoe prow, which was taken care of by this great institution – it survived! When we saw it here, we repatriated it, and about half the people in Angoon came down to the boat that brought it in to welcome it home.”

He began to drum and chant a song of gratitude and unity.

The redesign of the hall has been entrusted to the wHY architectural firm, which Futter said is known for its “exquisite sensitivity in working with historic spaces.”

Said Founding Partner and Creative Director Kulapat Yantrasast, “As I was listening to the remarks and the songs, I felt every object in this room resonate… and I felt, as an architect, how can we make that happen? How can we make that magic? Our first task is to really listen and engage, convene and explore. We want to bring in a refreshed way to honor and celebrate the cultures here – not just for the objects in this great hall, but the living cultures, the people whose cultures are represented in this room.”

To that end, the next major step in the renovation process is an interdisciplinary “convening” the museum is hosting later this fall of Native and non-Native scholars, curators, artists, conservators, and others, to consider exhibition design, interpretation, and approaches to conservation and reinstallation.

The Northwest Coast Hall restoration project has a total budget of $14.5 million and is expected to be completed in 2020, during the celebration of the museum’s 150th anniversary.