2023 Fall Newsletter

Miami County museum has begun a repatriation project for its pre-Columbian collections BY: RACHEL MIPRO /Kansas Reflector

A Peruvian artifact estimated to be more than a thou sand years old, well-wrapped in white tissue paper and stuck into a borrowed school duffel bag, marks the first success of a rural town’s plans to repatriate its art collection. The museum in Paola began its ongoing efforts of trying to return objects from a 38-piece collection of pre-Columbian artifacts a year ago, after first receiv ing the artifacts from a Kansas City couple’s trust five years ago. Pre-Columbian is a term used to describe an era of thriving indigenous art in the Americas be fore the arrival of Christopher Columbus. “Although this is a wonderful collection, it really doesn’t have anything to do with Miami county,” said Miami County Historical Society and Museum execu tive board member Gordan Geldhof. “Really, the right thing to do was to repatriate them.” The collection was authenticated in 1991, when it was determined the countries of origin were Mexico,

Ecuador, Guatemala and Peru. After making little ini tial headway on the repatriation process, museum of ficials reached out to U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids’ office, which helped them get into contact with the four em bassies in Washington, D.C. About a dozen Paola residents, including the mayor, gathered inside the museum Monday morning to wait for Liliana Trellis, who was sent to collect three arti facts on behalf of the General Consulate of Peru in Dal las. The artifacts are thought to be made between 200 B.C. and 200 A.D., and come from the Nazca region in Peru. Trellis said that two of the three artifacts are likely rep licas, and have been donated to the Texas consulate, but the third, a polychrome vessel, is likely an invalu able original. She borrowed her son’s school duffel bag for transportation, lining it with cardboard and tissue paper to prepare the objects for the airplane ride back to Texas. We appreciate all the recognition Brian McCauley and The Miami Republic news coverage gives our museum & thank him for covering this event also.

Gordan Geldhof, Rachel Mipro , Jana Harrington Barcus, Liliana Trellis, Peruvian Representative.

The two copies

The polychrome vessel

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