National Museum of Vanuatu
Collections
Collections
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[thumb\|Intangible heritage in Vanuatu](/wiki/File:SAFEGUARDING_Indigenous_ARCHITECTURE_IN_VANUATU.pdf "SAFEGUARDING Indigenous ARCHITECTURE IN VANUATU.pdf")
The National Museum of Vanuatu has a collection that includes archaeological and ethnographic objects, as well as biological and geological specimens, from the country. The collection includes: masks, slit gongs, model canoes, pottery, animal and birds specimens from each island, as well as archaeological archives relating to the material culture of the first inhabitants. The geology collection includes bones belonging to the [meiolaniid](/wiki/Meiolaniidae "Meiolaniidae") family of megafaunal horned turtles. The remains were excavated from the [Teouma](/wiki/Teouma "Teouma") site, which was inhabited by [Lapita people](/wiki/Lapita_culture "Lapita culture"); the site provides the earliest evidence for human\-meiolaniid interaction. Ceramic material from the archaeology collection includes [Lapita pottery](/wiki/Lapita_pottery "Lapita pottery") and Wusi pottery from [Espiritu Santo](/wiki/Espiritu_Santo "Espiritu Santo"). The archaeology collection also includes a photographic archive, which includes images of the excavation of Chief [Roi Mata](/wiki/Roi_Mata "Roi Mata")'s burial site. Another photographic archive records the tradition of [sand drawing](/wiki/Sand_drawing "Sand drawing") from the islands, which appears on UNESCO's [List of Intangible Cultural Heritage](/wiki/UNESCO_Intangible_Cultural_Heritage_Lists "UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists").

### Digital collecting

Digital collecting has been an important aspect of the museum's work since 1976 when an Oral Traditions Project was founded. The project trained ni\-Vanuatu men to record oral traditions. In 1990 this programme involved to include the collection of women's oral traditions, as well as men's, and was led by [Jean Tarissei](/wiki/Jean_Tarissei "Jean Tarissei"). By 1994 this programme had developed into the Vanuatu Culture Centre Women Fieldworker Network.

#### Connections to the Independence movement

During the 1970s, at the same time as the museum was starting its oral collecting programme, the independence movement in Vanuatu was developing, following the establishment of the [Vanua'aku Pati](/wiki/Vanua%27aku_Pati "Vanua'aku Pati") in 1971\. The party stressed the importance of *kastom,* in particular as a way to unite ni\-Vanuatu against both the colonial rule of the [Anglo\-French Condominium](/wiki/New_Hebrides "New Hebrides"). This meant that the importance of *kastom* became part of a national discourse. In 1980, post\-independence, the Oral Traditions Project developed into the Vanuatu Cultural Centre Fieldworker Network.

### Research

In 1994 the museum began a long\-term partnership with the [Australian National University](/wiki/Australian_National_University "Australian National University") in order to co\-operate to solve some of the gaps in the ni\-Vanuatu archaeological record. Excavations have been undertaken at several sites, including: [Erromango](/wiki/Erromango "Erromango") (1994\), [Maluku Islands](/wiki/Maluku_Islands "Maluku Islands") (1995\), [Mangaasi](/wiki/Mangaasi%2C "Mangaasi,") on [Efate](/wiki/Efate "Efate") (1996–99\), Teouma (2004\-06\). The excavations at Mangaasi were the first to include a comprehensive archaeological training programme for ni\-Vanuatu.
In 2002 the German painter [Ingo Kühl](/wiki/Ingo_K%C3%BChl "Ingo Kühl"), after participating in an expedition of the Cultural Center to ceremonies of the indigenous people on [Malakula](/wiki/Malakula "Malakula"), his works that were created there were shown in an exhibition at the National Museum of Vanuatu and in 2004–2005 at the [Ethnological Museum of Berlin](/wiki/Ethnological_Museum_of_Berlin "Ethnological Museum of Berlin").
In November 2006 a major conference was held at the museum, which was the first time an international conference on ni\-Vanuatu cultural heritage was held in the country.

### Collections management

In 2004 an in\-house, electronic collections management system was designed in order to effectively manage physical and digital collections, as well as to accurately represent the relationships that are so important in ni\-Vanuatu culture. The system became known as the Vanuatu Cultural Information Network (VCIN). It was designed to work effectively in all three main languages: English, French and Bislama, but is less effective in other endemic languages. The database also records which objects are tabu, and who may access them, for example "family only" or "village \- female only". However, in 2019, as a result of a lack of sustained funding, the catalogue had been "de\-aggregated".


How does the museum preserve traditional artifacts that are sensitive or tabu?