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Museum of New Zealand

Te Papa Tongarewa

Mapping Sāmoa collections project

Our Mapping the Sāmoa Collections project is a collaboration between Te Papa and the Bishop Museum in Hawai‘i and aims to enhance museum catalogue records and develop digital maps to contextualise taonga; enhancing their visibility and improving associated biographies, which then allows communities to utilise and share these resources, as well as support museum collections and knowledge.

In 1930, Māori academic Te Rangi Hiroa (Sir Peter Buck) published the ethnological book Samoan Material Culture, whilst working for the Bishop Museum based on his collections and fieldwork in Sāmoa in the 1920s. This connection and sustained collaboration is an opportunity to better understand the scope of the collections, oral histories, and indigenous knowledge systems which feature in this work.

Mapping the Sāmoa Collection

This project aims to enhance museum catalogue records and develop digital maps to contextualise taonga; enhancing their visibility and improving associated biographies, which then allows communities to utilise and share these resources, as well as support museum collections and knowledge.

Mapping the Sāmoa Collections: Collaborations and connections

Research Assistant Alexander Gordon reflects on his first forays into the Mapping Sāmoa project.

Mapping the Sāmoa Collections: How do you say ‘adze’ in Sāmoan?

As part of the Mapping Sāmoa project, research assistant Alexander Gordon has been tasked with making a glossary of Sāmoan vocabulary.

Mapping the Sāmoa Collections: The First World War and New Zealand’s Empire

Research Assistant Alexander Gordon looks into New Zealand soldiers in Sāmoa in the First World War as part of the Mapping Sāmoa project.

Mapping the Sāmoa Collections: Siapo

Learning more about the measina Sāmoa (Sāmoan taonga treasures) research assistant Alexander Gordon has been struct by the beauty of siapo (Sāmoan tapa) and talks about them here.

Mapping the Sāmoa Collections: The Kronfeld Family

One of our largest Sāmoan collections was donated by the Auckland-based German-Sāmoan Kronfeld family. Here, Alexander Gordon shares some insight into their story.