Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh, but travelled widely and in 1888 he and his family began a three-year tour of the South Pacific, eventually settling in Samoa.

[1] In 1890 Stevenson purchased 314 acres (127 ha) of land and began to build a home there; by 1891 his mansion Villa Vailima was completed, named after the nearby village.

Art and furniture on display in the house included a nude by Rodin, given to Stevenson by the artist, a tablecloth gifted by Queen Victoria and a piano.

[2] When Stevenson died in 1894, the villa was no longer used by the family and was used as the official residences the Governor of German Samoa, then later by the New Zealand Mandatory Authority's administrator, and, subsequently, by the Samoan Head of State.

[7] This museum also holds guns which Stevenson used in Samoa, as well a collection of sea shells and Samoan ethnographic objects which he acquired there.