Museum remains closed for cleanup

CNMI’s lone history museum has remained off-limits to the public since Monday this week, the longest time the facility has been shut down since it opened, as it recovers from the wrath of typhoon Saomai.

Museum staff anticipates the closure to stand at least another week to completely restore the place to its original state. The museum’s treasured artifacts and displays suffered minor damages due to floods spawned by heavy rains,

But the museum is set to pull a comeback next Friday with the grand opening of its “Japan in the Marianas: the Prosperous Years” exhibit, which has been pushed back due to bad weather condition.

The six-member museum staff will use the remaining time until the opening date to complete the preparations for the Japanese administration in the Marianas exhibit.

“Hopefully by tomorrow, we will have all the dirty cleaning out of the way. And next week, we’ll focus on the exhibit,” said Assistant Museum Director Genevieve Cabrera.

“Right now, we’re mowing the lawns and scrubbing floors and we’re conducting the cleanup among ourselves and some volunteers,” she said, adding that the main challenge was scrubbing at least three inches of mud off the floor.

Meanwhile, major preparations are underway for next Friday’s exhibit opening. The event is viewed as one of the local museum’s major projects of the year.

The exhibit will open its doors on Sept. 22 and will occupy one half of the whole museum featuring materials during the pre-war Japanese period, according to Museum Executive Director Paul Chancy Oberg.

Artifacts that survived the conflict between Japan and the United States during the period covering 1914 to 1941 will highlight the eight-month exhibit.

The historical displays will revolve around various themes to include economics, education, health, religion, and family life during that era.

The years between 1914 and 1941 will be interpreted through photographs, film clips, artifacts, maps, post cards, stamps, models, reproductions, oral history, and authoritative historical accounts of Japanese activities throughout Micronesia with special focus on the CNMI.

According to Mr. Oberg, in attempts to recreate an impression of what Garapan (known during the era as Little Tokyo) was like during that period, the museum is set to reconstruct a model of the famous Korean confectionery store through makeshift materials.

Life-size reproductions of the artifacts will be created from the image of photos based on existing collections, Mr. Oberg added.