The peculiar story of Dorr Bothwell.

 Born and raised California, in 1928 she quit her job as a waitress packed a roll of canvas, stretcher bars and paints using a $3,000 inheritance from an aunt to travel alone to American Samoa. The south pacific appealed to her after she saw the 1926 documentary "Moana" which was filmed in Savaii. After arriving in Tutuila however she was annoyed by the naval control of the island and opted for Ta’u, Manu’a there she stayed with High Chief Sotoa and his wife Toaga.

When American colonial authorities tried to deport her, Sotoa adopted her into their family, bestowing her the name "Soaifetu" and granting her citizenship that would allow her to stay with them. During her time on Ta’u, Dorr practiced speaking Samoan learning vernacular and vocabulary expressions, she learned traditional siva and ceremonies, and how Siapo was designed and made, and there she created the block prints, drawings, watercolors and oil paintings. When money went dry remarkably despite being on a remote island she entered contests sponsored by magazines like Life and sent pictures through the mail for her mother and a San Diego art director to sell. The profits enabled her to extend her stay in Manu’a for nearly two years. Perhaps, the most dramatic example of Dorr's experience was getting a traditional malu tattoo.

In her diaries she once wrote -- "The Samoans have the loveliest skin smooth very fine especially the young girls and boys. They bathe at least twice a day then rub oil on, especially at night I suppose that has something to do with the nice texture their coloring defies analysis. They are all colors but no matter what shade light or dark they are stunning against the green foliage of their jungle like hills. When I think of what a sorry sight two hundred white people country people or that would be were they asked to wear only a lava-lava my respect for the Samoan from an artistic standpoint at least, goes soaring up."

Dorr later returned to the United States became an accomplished artist and educator and died in the year 2000. Her work is displayed in notable museums throughout the world. According to Dorr however she considered the artwork she made in American Samoa to be her finest work.

As administrator of American Samoa: Through the Years its difficult to measure Dorr's legacy. Nonetheless, Dorr as a white person observing perspectives through an unfiltered non political or religious lens her writings and art are some the most fascinating work I've ever seen. It provides a rare look and journey into an era and point in time of Tutuila and Manu’a.