Grand Ronde Tribe welcomes artifacts from British Museum

GRAND RONDE, Ore. (AP) – Tribal artifacts hidden away in the archives of the British Museum in London for nearly 120 years are being returned to an Oregon tribe for an exhibit at its own museum.

The 16 objects will go on display Tuesday on a small reservation in western Oregon after a decades-long campaign by the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde.

The intricate bowls, woven baskets, a hunting cap and other pieces were collected by the Rev. Robert W. Summers, an Episcopal minister who bought them from destitute tribal members in the 1870s and sold them to a colleague.

The colleague later gifted the objects to the British institution.

The “Rise of the Collectors” exhibit at the Chachalu Tribal Museum & Cultural Center also will include basketry collected by Dr. Andrew Kershaw roughly two decades later.

The tribal museum is in the community of Grand Ronde, about 70 miles southwest of Portland.