Background
Bartels was born July 25, 1945, in Honolulu.
Bartels was born July 25, 1945, in Honolulu.
He was educated at Punahou School.
Graduating from the University of Hawaii in 1967, Bartels received a bachelor"s degree in fine arts and a graduate degree in Asian and Pacific art He served in the Navy from 1967 to 1970 and was based in Saigon during the Vietnam War. From 1975 to 1998, Bartels served as the curator and later managing director of ʻIolani Palace.
During his twenty-year career, he headed the final phase of the palace restoration and saw the return of many priceless artifacts.
He resigned after a dispute with Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawānanakoa, the President of the Friends of ʻIolani Palace, who sat on one of the two thrones in the museum for a photograph in Life magazine. He later served as the director of Washington Place, the former private residence of Hawaii"s last monarch Queen Liliʻuokalani, helping to convert it from the Governor"s mansion to a historic museum.
Bartels also appeared on the documentary The American Experience: Hawaii"s Last Queen (1994). The marriage ended in divorce but the two remained close friends for the remainder of Bartels"s life.
She was at his bedside before his death.
He was buried at Saint Andrew"s Cathedral, next to Washington Place.
