David McHattie Forbes
David McHattie Forbes (July 21, 1863 – March 23, 1937) was a Scottish botanist, ethnologist, sugar plantation manager and explorer on the island of Hawai'i. He practiced forestry, agronomy, and horticulture and served as the first district forester of South Kohala in 1905, and twenty years later was appointed a judge in Waimea. He was the discoverer in 1905 of what became known as the Forbes Collection, the greatest collection of Polynesian artifacts ever found. His family preserved his third of the found objects for half a century and then donated them to the Volcanoes National Park in 1956. The objects were on public view for 34 years until 1990, when with the passage of NAGPRA in 1990, they were each evaluated to be priceless as well as subject to repatriation and removed permanently from the public. The remaining two thirds of the objects found in the Forbes Cave, were sold to the Bishop Museum by Forbes' two expedition partners, Wilhelm Wagener and Friedrich Haehnisch.
Personal facts
| Birth date | July 21, 1863 |
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| Date of death | March 23, 1937 |
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