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Story: Museums

Te Māori exhibition, 1984

Watch Māori entering the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in November 1984 at the opening of the Te Māori of Māori art. The exhibition was well received in New York and also in St Louis, Chicago and San Francisco, where it was also shown. International recognition and the huge response of New Zealanders, both Māori and Pākehā, to the exhibition when it returned home in 1986 heightened appreciation of Māori taonga (treasures). This led to significant changes in the relationships of museums with iwi. There was stronger Māori representation and staffing in museums, greater consultation with iwi in the display of their taonga, and greater use of te reo Māori and Māori tikanga (customs) in museum displays and openings.

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How to cite this page

Conal McCarthy, Museums – Museums expand and diversify, 1945 to 1990, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/video/43883/te-maori-exhibition-1984 (accessed 14 June 2026).

Story by Conal McCarthy, published 18 December 2013.

Comments

Amiriangareta Harris
15 June 2016
I have written an assignment about my grandpa. I included a reference to the Te Maori Exhibition, New York, to link my grandpa's "katiaki rangatira" status to Uenuku. My grandpa lived at Pa Terangi. Uenuku and other taonga were in a cave on Lake Ngaroto. Thankyou for providing a record to use to support study. naku noa Amiriangareta Harris(nee Manukau)