Renovation of Traditional Huts
In August 2002 Iroij Michael Kabua supervised replacement of the roofs and walls of the traditional huts outside the Cultural Center. The old thatching of the huts had deteriorated significantly. Iroij Kabua sees the current replacement effort as temporary. The long-term plan is replacement of the current coconut frond thatching with pandanus thatching that is significantly more durable.

Bishop Museum Loans

In mid-September 2002 representatives from the Bishop Museum in Honolulu brought loans of tools, woven belts, and mats from the museum’s archives of island artifacts. These relics from the late 1800’s are on exhibit for the first time in the Marshalls.

Ebeye Story

A poster presentation is now on display at the Cultural Center depicting a brief history of Ebeye, chronicling it from its population of 19 in the 1930’s to its status as the second largest major population center of the Marshalls with more than 12,000 people.

Nuclear Testing in the Marshalls
A display summarizing the 67 nuclear tests undertaken by the United States between 1946 and 1958.

Manit Day Celebration
September 30, 2002. Annual celebration of Marshallese manit (traditional custom) will include craft and cooking demonstrations as well as exhibits on navigation, traditional medicine. The program will be located in the area of the Cultural Center. A late afternoon program will also take place.

Additional lithographs by Louis Choris
The Cultural Center has already on display a number of reproductions from Choris lithographs depicting the people and lifestyle of the Marshalls when visited by the Russian voyage of discovery headed by Captain Otto Von Kotzebue in1815-17. We expect to have twenty additional reproductions on display by October 2002.

Photographs from the 1882 Vanadis Expedition
In the early 1880’s a scientific expedition sponsored by Sweden passed through the Marshalls. The Cultural Society ahs recently purchased transparencies of photographs from the expedition and will place the photos on display by October 2002.