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Price of a Movie Ticket : An old stone

A Chamorro boy trades artifact for movie ticket

A museum in Hawaii wanted to collect pre-Spanish stone tools, implements and weapons on Guam. It was 1925, and the Bishop Museum of Honolulu was on Guam to expand their collection. But how to get as many objects as possible, in a limited amount of time?

The adults wouldn't go near anything associated with the island's pre-colonial past. They had been brought up all their life to avoid physical contact with anything connected with the ancient people, for fear of punishment.

So, the museum resorted to the children. In exchange for free entrance to Hagåtña's movie theater, children had to go in search of pre-contact adzes, blades, chisels, sling stones, sinkers; whatever they could find!

Apparently, the children eagerly complied. Off they went along the beach or into the jungle where their parents dreaded to go. Watching cowboys and train wrecks was worth the risk of upsetting the taotaomo'na (ancestor spirits). The children just had to present the ticket vendor at the theater with these artifacts in order to gain free admission. The museum reimbursed the theater.