The presence of the "Smith Family Totem Pole" in the Frank Hibben Center of the Maxwell Museum remains a profound testament to a legacy of colonial roots. While the University of New Mexico’s official narrative acknowledges that Frank Hibben (the same person that the Hibben Center is named after) stole this culturally significant piece from the Tlowitsis Nation in 1941 — using a ruse to smuggle it into the United States — the institutional response remains insufficient.
According to the University’s own timeline, an agreement was reached to keep the original pole at UNM while a replica was to be erected in its original home in British Columbia. However, in 2026, the status of this replica remains unclear. Why has there been no public accounting for the completion and installation of this promised restoration?
Furthermore, the University’s messaging on this matter is not credible as long as it remains a one-sided institutional history. For the Maxwell Museum to truly move toward reconciliation, they must go beyond static plaques and website explanations. The museum should consider stripping Hibben's name from the building and incorporating and displaying video testimony from recent generations of the Tlowitsis Nation alongside the pole. Hearing the history and the impact of this theft directly from the voices of the Tlowitsis people is the only way to provide the necessary context that a university-controlled website cannot.
By continuing to house this “cinematic heist” in a building named after the very man who stole it, UNM prioritizes a thief's legacy over indigenous sovereignty. Without the promised replica or the inclusion of the Smith family’s own narrative, the University’s gestures remain empty. It is time for UNM to provide a transparent update on the replica and cede the narrative to the rightful owners of this history.
Justice delayed is justice denied.
Sincerely,
Lissa Knudsen, MPH
Ph.D. Candidate, Communication and Journalism
