This is the Field Museum right here in Chicago. They have about
10,000 Philippine artifacts and we got a chance to take a sneak
peak at some of them. Chan: "This storage area of the
Philippine artifacts consists of mostly Cordillera, or the
northern islands, and the southern islands. ... These are
spirits houses, which are usually placed in front of the
house of the huts of the Cordilleras or the Highlanders.
... There's a door to that so the spirits go in. And you
invoke the spirits to come." Lani Chan has worked as a
community co-curator with Chicago's Field Museum for five
years. She's retired, and much of what she does now is on a
volunteer basis, since funding has dwindled. She curates to
give back to the community, that includes organizing and
identifying artifacts, bringing meaning to each one. "This is a
knife. It came from Leyte, which is more diverse. This is 1944.
But the knives are really part of the outfit of Filipinos. You
rarely see a Filipino before without knives because they use
it for harvest, for everyday work. This is what's called
the baybayin. The first letters, the alphabet, that is
used by the Filipinos." "Being a Filipino-American living here in
Chicago, it's about time that we kind of flaunt into our
artifacts. It's for the next generation." Some museum
visitors may not know that underneath them are rows and
rows of Filipino artifacts, 10,000 objects.
Seventy-five percent of them were collected by Field Museum
anthropologists more than 100 years ago, when the Philippines
was a U.S. colony. Jamie Kelly heads the Anthropological
Collections at the Field Museum. "You never know with museums
like the Field Museum how things could have been obtained
illegally or not, but especially related to collections like
this. But from the documentation that we have, it shows that they
appeared to be acquired legally at that time." Kelly
acknowledges that there are colonial narratives in acquiring
and telling stories of Filipino tribes in the past. For example,
the majority of the collection is from native tribal
communities from remote locations. It completely ignores
other Filipino communities from other regions, perhaps to
exoticize its people. "In the past, we didn't do a great job.
That was part of a colonial way of doing things. But we
realize we're not the only experts in the museum. ... But
we realized that there are other experts out there, and that
includes source communities and the descendant communities who
are out there. So it's for them to reclaim their narrative of
their heritage," Kelly said. Philippine culture and
traditions are very much alive in Chicago. Ruben Salazar is the
co-president of Chicago's Filipino-American National
Historical Society. The organization hosts various
Filipino-American events throughout the year. "This
collection that's in the Field Museum are all representative of
indigenous tribes, and those are the places that very many of us
have not seen or have not known and we're not taught in schools.
So this is our way of learning how our brothers and sisters
from other parts of the country live." Thanks to an anonymous
donation, 80 percent of the 10,000 objects have been
electronically digitized and are now accessible through an online
portal. This allows others to contribute their knowledge about
a specific object, which the museum can then verify. The
museum houses one of the largest collections of Philippine
artifacts in the U.S., and it's expanding. It's currently
working alongside co-curators like Chan on anthropological
exhibitions in the Philippines. This allows the museum to
connect with the communities there, as well as find new
information, artifacts and stories to share for generations
to come. "It's going back to the roots for the young people. And
that's what I think is important for me, for the young people to
know their roots and their heritage."