HONOLULU (AP) β A stolen totem pole that went from Hollywood garden decor to the basement of a Hawaii museum has been returned to Alaska tribal members.
University of Alaska Anchorage professor Steve Langdon has long researched the object and says actor John Barrymore directed crew members of his yacht to take it from an unoccupied Alaska village in 1931.
He says Barrymore had the pole erected at his estate. Actor Vincent Price later bought it and donated it to the Honolulu Museum of Art in 1981.
Museum officials returned the cedar pole to seven Tlingit (KLINK’-it) tribal members who traveled from southeast Alaska for a ceremony Thursday.
They sang songs and thanked Hawaii for taking good care of the pole, which was packed in a crate to be shipped to Alaska.
