Exchange & Value

Queen Kapiʻolani donated her recreational outrigger canoe to the Smithsonian after visiting the U.S. National Museum in Washington, D.C. in 1887. During a tour, a curator showed her a boat exhibit and inquired if Hawaiian canoes were similar. She replied "yes" and said that she would be pleased to contribute one to the museum on her return to her own country. A known and influential philanthropist, she cared for both the health of women in Hawai‘i and educating outsiders about Hawai‘i’s culture and traditions. As a gift, it was a sign of goodwill that helped American citizens understand the friendship between the Hawaiian Kingdom and the United States. She hoped to inspire empathy by recognizing that there are unique native cultures that have existed in the US for over 2,000 years, and that this boat could teach Americans about their seafaring traditions.  

Politically, the late 1880s were a tense time in Hawaiʻi: foreign business interests (like American sugar planters, missionaries, the Honolulu Rifles, the U.S. Navy, European investors, etc.) were tightening their hold on the islands, and the 1887 Bayonet Constitution had just been forced upon King Kalākaua at gunpoint, which stripped the monarchy of much of its political authority. Gifting the canoe to the American National Museum was America’s center of scholarship, natural history, anthropology, and public education. By placing her gift there, Kapiʻolani tied Hawaiʻi to the United States on cultural and intellectual terms rather than purely political ones. This way, the conversation about the nation would be shifted away from annexation and domination. Furthermore, In Hawaii, the single-hull outrigger was known as the "lifeblood of the Pacific",  as it was mostly used for fishing, transportation, and battle. An important object within Polynesian culture, the canoe is said to connect disparate peoples across long distances. The act of giving her canoe, then, was intended to represent the connectivity between the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the United States, separated by more than 2,000 miles. 

The Smithsonian Institution formally received the canoe on January 25, 1888. Museum workers described it as the "royal yacht of Queen Kapiʻolani", and curators refurbished it before highlighting it as the centerpiece of the Na Mea Makamae o Hawaiʻi – Hawaiian Treasures exhibit from 2004-2005. As featured on the Smithsonian website, the public interpreted the gift as a gesture of friendship and knowledge-sharing. After further observation, contemporary reports noted how the canoe exemplified the advanced seafaring skills of Native Hawaiians, even remarking that Hawaiians had voyaged great distances in such craft long before European explorers like Columbus. In this way, the gift broadened Americans' understanding of Hawaii's sophistication and history. 

While it didn't directly impact diplomatic relations, the gift of the canoe helped create a long-term cultural connection and helped the queen accomplish some of her intentions with the canoe. Through the Smithsonian, the canoe sparked more long-term interest and research in Hawaiian arts and technologies, as it anchors exhibits, public programs, conversations about Hawaiian history and sovereignty, and is frequently visited by Native Hawaiian delegations in D.C. Throughout the years, information about the canoe has been continuously uploaded to the Smithsonian's learning lab. 

In terms of reciprocity, there is only evidence of informal reciprocation in the form of diplomacy and hospitality. That is to say, the queen was already reciprocating a gift she had received from the U.S. prior. Before visiting the museum, President Grover Cleveland and the First Lady hosted the queen and her sister as guests of honor and as the first reigning queen to visit the U.S. at an official dinner. On this trip, the U.S. The Navy gave the queen’s party a special tour of Mount Vernon, and the Marine Band serenaded her departure. Aside from this, the Smithsonian Institution’s prompt display of the canoe and public acknowledgment of its donor served as an institutional thank-you. Throughout the years, the museum’s preservation of the canoe can also be seen as a form of reciprocity as they ensured that Queen Kapiʻolani’s gift was not forgotten, but rather honored and used for education. Notably, when the canoe was restored in 2004, traditional Hawaiian materials and expertise were employed in the conservation, which showed respect for the object's cultural origins. 

The gifting of this canoe opened the door to continued cultural and diplomatic engagement, both in the 19th century and long afterward. In the immediate years following 1887, Hawaiʻi and the United States maintained diplomatic contact. For instance, King Kalākaua (Kapiʻolani’s husband) and later Queen Liliʻuokalani interacted with U.S. officials frequently on matters like treaties and state visits. Even over a century later, it continues to inspire dialogue: in 2018, the Smithsonian organized a “Recovering Voices” community research program where master canoe builders from Hawaiʻi and Māori communities in New Zealand gathered in Washington, D.C. to study Queen Kapiʻolani’s canoe. During this visit, knowledge of traditional carving, canoe repair, and navigation was shared across cultures, using the 130-year-old gift as the focal point. Activities like this show that the Queen’s gift has had a ripple effect, and fostered Indigenous collaboration and reconnected people through heritage. Additionally, the canoe has spurred further exchanges in Hawaiʻi itself. For example, programs in Hawaiʻi have trained new generations of canoe carvers, including Native Hawaiian women, to replicate the Queen’s canoe and keep the art alive.