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| Established | 5 December 1994 |
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| Location | Samoa |
| Founder | Jim Winegar Tilafaiga Rex Maughan |
| General Manager | Margaret Silva Felise |
| Website | www |
The Robert Louis Stevenson Museum is a museum in Samoa, which commemorates the life of the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. The museum displays a curated version of his residence, as Stevenson lived in it. Its establishment was funded by overseas donations.
Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh, but travelled widely and in 1888 he and his family began a three-year tour of the South Pacific, eventually settling in Samoa. [1] In 1890 Stevenson purchased 314 acres (127 ha) of land and began to build a home there; by 1891 his mansion Villa Vailima was completed, named after the nearby village. The house had five bedrooms and a library, as well as the only working fireplace in Samoa. Art and furniture on display in the house included a nude by Rodin, given to Stevenson by the artist, a tablecloth gifted by Queen Victoria and a piano. Stevenson was popular with the local community, who gave him the nickname Tusitala or "Teller of Tales". He was critical of colonial rule in Samoa and supported Samoan indigenous political interests. Stevenson died in 1894 and was buried overlooking his home at the top of Mount Vaea. [2]
When Stevenson died in 1894, the villa was no longer used by the family and was used as the official residences the Governor of German Samoa, then later by the New Zealand Mandatory Authority's administrator, and, subsequently, by the Samoan Head of State. In 1990 and 1991 hurricanes badly damaged the residence. [2]
After a period of renovation, the building opened on 5 December 1994 as the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum. [3] The museum was founded by American businessmen and Mormon missionaries Jim Winegar and Tilafaiga Rex Maughan. [4] Funds for the foundation of the museum came from donations from outside Samoa. The museum is run by a board, which includes two representatives from the government of Samoa. [5]
The museum appeals to Anglophone visitors, many familiar with English literature. [6] In 2003, 86 per cent of visitors were foreign tourists. [4]
The museum is dedicated to the life and legacy of Robert Louis Stevenson and the collection is made up of material and objects relating to his life. [3] The house is presented as if Stevenson was still alive and guided tours are run daily. [2] However, little of the collection is original and Winegar and Maughan purchased many pieces, either as authentic period pieces, but with no association with Stevenson, or replicas. [6] Stevenson's grave on Mount Vaea can also be accessed from the museum. [7]
Most of the photography relating to Stevenson's life in Samoa is held at the Writer's Museum in Edinburgh, Scotland. [7] This museum also holds guns which Stevenson used in Samoa, as well a collection of sea shells and Samoan ethnographic objects which he acquired there. [8]
Whilst Stevenson was anti-colonial in his stance, his presence and ability to move to the island is in itself part of settler colonialism. The museum is a significant institution within Samoa's heritage industry, since it acts as a lens through which colonial histories of Samoa can be examined. [6]
Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as Treasure Island, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped and A Child's Garden of Verses.
Apia is the capital and only city of Samoa. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (itūmālō) of Tuamasaga.
Upolu is an island in Samoa, formed by a massive basaltic shield volcano which rises from the seafloor of the western Pacific Ocean. The island is 75 kilometres long and 1,125 square kilometres in area, making it the second largest of the Samoan Islands by area. With approximately 145,000 inhabitants, it is by far the most populous of the Samoan Islands. Upolu is situated to the southeast of Savai'i, the "big island". Apia, the capital, is in the middle of the north coast, and Faleolo International Airport at the western end of the island. The island has not had any historically recorded eruptions, although there is evidence of three lava flows, dating back only to between a few hundred and a few thousand years ago.
German Samoa was a German protectorate from 1900 to 1920, consisting of the islands of Upolu, Savai'i, Apolima and Manono, now wholly within the Independent State of Samoa, formerly Western Samoa. Samoa was the last German colonial acquisition in the Pacific basin, received following the Tripartite Convention signed at Washington on 2 December 1899 with ratifications exchanged on 16 February 1900. It was the only German colony in the Pacific, aside from the Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory in China, that was administered separately from German New Guinea.
Sir Sidney Colvin was a British curator and literary and art critic, part of the illustrious Anglo-Indian Colvin family. He is primarily remembered for his friendship with Robert Louis Stevenson.
Frances Matilda Van de Grift Osbourne Stevenson was an American magazine writer. She became a supporter and later the wife of Robert Louis Stevenson, and the mother of Isobel Osbourne, Samuel Lloyd Osbourne, and Hervey Stewart Osbourne.
Vailima is the name of a village about four miles south of Apia, the capital of Samoa, the island nation in the Pacific Ocean. The population is 769. Vailima is part of the electoral political district Tuamasaga.
Joseph Dwight Strong, Jr. (1853–1899) was an American artist and illustrator, known for his paintings. He was active between 1870s until 1899, in the San Francisco Bay Area, Monterey, Kingdom of Hawaii, and Samoa.
Rex Maughan was an American businessman. He was the founder, president, and chief executive officer of Forever Living Products, superseded by his son Gregg Maughan in the position of CEO. Forever Living is a multi-level marketing company that sells aloe vera and bee hive-based cosmetics and other personal products.
A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa is an 1892 historical non-fiction work by Scottish-born author Robert Louis Stevenson describing the contemporary Samoan Civil War.
Thomas Andrew was a New Zealand photographer who lived in Samoa from 1891 until his death in 1939.
Sir Graham Balfour was a noted educationalist, author and son of Surgeon General Thomas Graham Balfour. He lived near his cousin, Robert Louis Stevenson during the final years of Stevenson's life, and went on to write a biography of him. After writing a few books, he spent time on education administration, including managing the education system of Staffordshire.
Stevenson Memorial is a 1903 oil painting by the American artist Abbott Handerson Thayer, intended to commemorate the writer Robert Louis Stevenson. Though Thayer initiated several paintings with the intent of honoring Stevenson, Stevenson Memorial is the only version to survive the artist's revisions.
Mount Vaea is a 472 m summit overlooking Apia, the capital of Samoa located on the north central coast of Upolu island. The mountain is situated south about 3 km inland from Apia township and harbour. The settlement at the foothills on the northern side of the mountain is called Lalovaea.
Isobel "Belle" Osbourne Strong Field was a writer and the daughter of Fanny Stevenson and sister of Lloyd Osbourne. Through her mother's second marriage, she was a stepdaughter of Robert Louis Stevenson.
John Wilberforce "Jack" Buckland (1864–1897), also known as "Tin Jack", was a trader who lived in the South Pacific in the late 19th century. He travelled with Robert Louis Stevenson and his stories of life as an island trader became the inspiration for the character of Tommy Hadden in The Wrecker (1892).
Tui Manu'a Matelita, born Margaret Young, and also known as Makelita, Matelika or Lika was the Tui Manu'a of Manu'a, a group of islands in the eastern part of the Samoan Islands, from 1891 to 1895. During her tenure, she served largely a ceremonial role at her residence on Ta'ū where she received British writer Robert Louis Stevenson. Matelita never married because she would not marry any of the eligible native chieftains and no other men were regarded as having the proper rank to marry her. She died of illness in 1895, although later reports claimed she died by a more violent means. She was buried in the Tui Manu'a Graves Monument.
The Writers’ Museum, housed in Lady Stair's House at the Lawnmarket on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, presents the lives of three of the foremost Scottish writers: Robert Burns, Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson. Run by the City of Edinburgh Council, the collection includes portraits, works and personal objects. Beside the museum lies the Makars' Court, the country's emerging national literary monument.
Tusitala is a 1986 three-part mini series for television based on the last years in the life of Robert Louis Stevenson, when he left Great Britain for Sydney and west Samoa.
Maison James Norman Hall is a historic house museum in Arue, French Polynesia. It exhibits the home of writer James Norman Hall, as it was in 1951 at the time of his death. Its collection includes a 3,000-volume library and the author's typewriter.