To celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, our May Collections Spotlight comes from a recently acquired collection of Marshall Islands artifacts. From this collection, this woven basket, or Kili bag, fits into the history of the Marshall Islands and connects the tradition of weaving to recent events that have changed life there.
Weaving has long been practiced and perfected in the Marshall Islands. Traditionally, weaving is passed down from generation to generation by women. Woven products include home furnishings like sleeping and sitting mats, sails and ropes for seafaring canoes, and decorative pieces. All are made from carefully prepared leaves of the coconut and pandanus trees.
This basket was made by a woman on Kili Island, one of the five main islands that make up the Republic of the Marshall Islands, along with 29 coral atolls and many smaller islands. The design is well known, called a Kili bag. The interior is made of woven pandanus leaf, and the exterior is from plain white coconut leaf. The artistry and skilled weaving of these bags gained worldwide fame when former First Lady Jaqueline Kennedy carried one.
Kili Island is also significant because it became the new home of the former inhabitants of Bikini Atoll. In 1946, Bikini islanders were evacuated ahead of U.S. nuclear testing at the site in what was believed would be a short-term move. In 1958, scientists learned that the fallout from nuclear testing was more dangerous than previously thought. Bikini islanders could not safely return to their homes and eventually chose to settle on Kili Island.
Due in part to the legacy of nuclear testing, the United States and the Republic of the Marshall Islands have a Compact of Free Association, allowing Marshallese citizens to migrate to the United States, where a growing Marshallese community now calls Dubuque home. This community worked with the River Museum to tell part of their story in our Rivers to the Sea exhibit, which features a specially built outrigger canoe and highlights the threat of rising sea levels to the Marshall Islands.
The newly acquired collection of Marshallese artifacts will help tell even more of the Marshall Islands story and the Marshallese connection to Dubuque and Iowa. This collection came to the Dubuque County Historical Society from Julie Zahs, an Iowan who served in the Peace Corps in the Marshall Islands from 1972 to 1974. During this time, Julie built her collection through gifts, purchases, and her own weavings as she learned from the Marshallese islanders.