The Guam Museum

Hiram Elliott served as the first director and Joaquin T. Aguon as the first curator. Elliott appealed to the public to see "the most interesting and curious artifacts of the ancient Chamorro civilization. Around this time the Bishop Museum returned a portion of the skeletal remains and artifacts originally collected by Hornbostel. The Legion opera... ted the museum for three years, offering tours for transient visitors to Guam until 1936 when the museum was formally turned over to the naval government. The Navy then recruited Margaret Higgins, a naval officer's wife, as the museum's curator. From 1937 to 1941, Agueda Iglesias Johnston was the museum committee member in charge of the ancient Chamorro collections. From these simple beginnings the museum underwent several transformations. The onset of World War II and the occupation of Guam by Japanese Imperial forces saw many of the artifacts removed from the museum and taken to Japan. The building itself was destroyed from heavy bombing during the American liberation of Guam in 1944. The postwar reconstruction of the island saw the recovery of some items from the museum's collections, but no immediate plans to rebuild the museum itself. In 1949, the Monuments and Museum Committee, headed by G. W. Brookhardt, was set up to discuss the re-establishment of the Guam Museum. In 1951, the first appointed civilian Governor Carlton Skinner, placed the Guam Museum under the Department of Land Management. His successor, Governor Ford Elvidge, reorganized the museum under the Monuments and Museum Committee and tasked the Guam Women's Club with the formation of the Parks and Monuments Committee. Through their efforts, the Guam Women's Club re-opened the museum in 1954 at the Garden House in the Plaza de España, and staffed it with volunteers. Thelma Glenn was appointed as Museum Director in 1955, and was hired full-time in 1957 until her retirement in 1976. In 1960, Governor Richard Lowe transferred the Guam Museum to the Guam Public Library System. Two years later, a large ...Read More