The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaii State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is a
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
of
history
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
and
science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
in the historic
Kalihi
Kalihi is a neighborhood of Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi, United States. Split by the Likelike Highway (Route 63), it is flanked by downtown Honolulu to the east and Mapunapuna, Moanalua and Salt Lake to the west.
Kalihi is the ...
district of
Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
on the Hawaiian island of
Oʻahu. Founded in 1889, it is the largest museum in Hawaiʻi and has the world's largest collection of
Polynesian cultural artifacts and natural history specimens. Besides the comprehensive exhibits of
Hawaiian cultural material, the museum's total holding of natural history specimens exceeds 24 million, of which the entomological collection alone represents more than 13.5 million specimens (making it the third-largest insect collection in the United States). The ''
Index Herbariorum'' code assigned to Herbarium Pacificum of this museum is BISH and this abbreviation is used when citing housed
herbarium
A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study.
The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...
specimens.
The museum complex is home to the Richard T. Mamiya Science Adventure Center.
History
Establishment
Charles Reed Bishop
Charles Reed Bishop (January 25, 1822 – June 7, 1915) was an American businessman, politician, and philanthropist in Hawaii. Born in Glens Falls, New York, he sailed to Hawaii in 1846 at the age of 24, and made his home there, marrying into the ...
(1822–1915), a businessman and philanthropist, co-founder of the
First Hawaiian Bank
First Hawaiian, Inc. is a bank holding company headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. Its principal subsidiary, First Hawaiian Bank, founded in 1858, is Hawaii’s oldest and largest financial institution headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, at the Firs ...
and
Kamehameha Schools, built the museum in memory of his late wife, Princess
Bernice Pauahi Bishop
Bernice Pauahi Bishop KGCOK RoK (December 19, 1831 – October 16, 1884), born Bernice Pauahi Pākī, was an '' alii'' (noble) of the Royal Family of the Kingdom of Hawaii and a well known philanthropist. At her death, her estate was the la ...
(1831–1884). Born into the royal family, she was the last legal heir of the
Kamehameha Dynasty, which had ruled the
Kingdom of Hawaii
The Hawaiian Kingdom, or Kingdom of Hawaiʻi ( Hawaiian: ''Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina''), was a sovereign state located in the Hawaiian Islands. The country was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great, of the independent island ...
between 1810 and 1872. Bishop had originally intended the museum to house family heirlooms passed down to him through the royal lineage of his wife.
Bishop hired
William Tufts Brigham as the first curator of the museum; Brigham later served as director from 1898 until his retirement in 1918.
The museum was built on the original boys' campus of Kamehameha Schools, an institution created at the bequest of the Princess, to benefit
native Hawaiian
Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands.
Hawaii ...
children; she gave details in her last will and testament. In 1898, Bishop had Hawaiian Hall and Polynesian Hall built on the campus, in the popular
Richardsonian Romanesque architectural style. The ''
Pacific Commercial Advertiser
''The Honolulu Advertiser'' was a daily newspaper published in Honolulu, Hawaii. At the time publication ceased on June 6, 2010, it was the largest daily newspaper in the American state of Hawaii. It published daily with special Sunday and In ...
'' newspaper dubbed these two structures as "the noblest buildings of Honolulu".
Today both halls are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
. Hawaiian Hall is home to a complete
sperm-whale skeleton, accompanied by a
papier-mâché
upright=1.3, Mardi Gras papier-mâché masks, Haiti
upright=1.3, Papier-mâché Catrinas, traditional figures for day of the dead celebrations in Mexico
Papier-mâché (, ; , literally "chewed paper") is a composite material consisting of p ...
body suspended above the central gallery. Along the walls are prized
koa wood display cases; today this wood in total is worth more than the original Bishop Museum buildings.
The museum is accessible on public transit:
TheBus Routes A, 1, 2, 7, 10.
Kaimiloa Expedition
In 1924, American millionaire, Medford Ross Kellum, outfitted a four masted
barquentine
A barquentine or schooner barque (alternatively "barkentine" or "schooner bark") is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts.
Modern barquentine sailing ...
for a scientific expedition which, even the naming of the ship ''
Kaimiloa'', was left entirely to the scientific circles of Honolulu.
The goal of the expedition was a five-year exploration of many of the then inaccessible spots of the Pacific. Under the auspices of the Bishop Museum, a group of Hawaii scientists joined the ship: Gerrit P. Wilder, botanist; Mrs. Wilder, historian;
Kenneth Emory, ethnologist; Dr.
Armstrong Sperry
Armstrong Wells Sperry (November 7, 1897 – April 26, 1976) was an American writer and illustrator of children's literature. His books include historical fiction and biography, often set on sailing ships, and stories of boys from Polynesia, Asi ...
, writer and illustrator; and Dr. Stanley Ball.
The vessel was a complete floating laboratory, possibly the most complete of any craft that has undertaken a similar trip. Bottles, crates, and boxes were stowed below, along with gallons of preservatives for insects and plant specimens for the Bishop Museum.
The goals of the expedition were exhaustive:
* complete collections of islands subjects ranging from insects, plants, minerals, and archaeological and ethnological specimens,
* study of the fish and sea life,
* chart as accurately as possible the ocean currents,
* for the United States government, conform and correct to the findings of the expedition the charts of the island groups,
* attempt to trace the origin of the Polynesians, their language and their migrations,
* photograph the natives and measure accurately portions of their bodies,
* record phonographically records of the speech, the songs, their chants,
* sound the ocean floor and study the formation of the islands in an effort to prove the unfounded but at the time prevalent theory that some Pacific islands were once a part of the mainland and that they formed a "lost continent".
Later development
In 1940, Kamehameha Schools moved to its new campus in Kapālama, allowing the museum to expand at the original campus site. Bishop Hall, first built for use by the school, was adapted for museum use. Most other school structures were razed, and new museum facilities were constructed. By the late 1980s, the Bishop Museum had become the largest natural and cultural history institution in Polynesia.
In 1988, construction of the Castle Memorial Building was begun. Dedicated on January 13, 1990, Castle Memorial Building houses all the major traveling exhibits that come to the Bishop Museum from institutions around the world.
The
Richard T. Mamiya Science Adventure Center opened in November 2005. The building is designed as a learning center for children, and includes many interactive exhibits focused on
marine science
Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dyna ...
,
volcanology
Volcanology (also spelled vulcanology) is the study of volcanoes, lava, magma and related geological, geophysical and geochemical phenomena (volcanism). The term ''volcanology'' is derived from the Latin word ''vulcan''. Vulcan was the anci ...
, and related sciences.
Library and archives
The museum library has one of the most extensive collections of books, periodicals, newspapers and special collections concerned with Hawaiʻi and the Pacific. The archives hold the results of extensive studies done by museum staff in the Pacific Basin, as well as manuscripts, photographs, artwork, oral histories, commercial sound recordings and maps.
When Bishop Museum opened to the public in June 1891, its library consisted of but a few shelves of books in what is today the Picture Gallery.
Many of Hawaiʻi's royalty, including Bernice Pauahi Bishop and
Queen Liliʻuokalani
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mothe ...
, deposited their personal papers at Bishop Museum. Manuscripts in the collection also include scientific papers, genealogical records, and memorabilia.
The book collection consists of approximately 50,000 volumes with an emphasis on the cultural and natural history of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific, with subject strengths in anthropology, music, botany, entomology, and zoology. The library provides extra access to the collection of published diaries, narratives, memoirs, and other writings relating to 18th- and 19th-century Hawaiʻi.
Institutions
On the campus of Bishop Museum is the Jhamandas Watumull Planetarium, an educational and research facility devoted to the
astronomical sciences and the oldest
planetarium in Polynesia.
Also on the campus is Pauahi Hall, home to the
J. Linsley Gressit Center for Research in Entomology, which houses some 14 million prepared specimens of
insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...
s and related
arthropod
Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...
s, including over 16,500 primary types. It is the third-largest entomology collection in the United States and the eighth-largest in the world. An active research facility, Pauahi Hall is not open to the public.
Nearby is Pākī Hall, home to the
Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame
The Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame is a sports hall of fame and museum in the U.S. state of Hawaii. According to the hall's official website, it servers as the "state museum for sports history in the islands," and "is best described as an educational ...
, a museum library and archives, which are open to the public.
In 1992, the Hawaii State legislature created the
Hawaii Biological Survey (HBS) as a program of the Bishop Museum. The HBS surveys, collects, inventories, studies, and maintains the reference collection of every plant and animal found in Hawaiʻi. It currently holds more than 4 million specimens in its collections.
From 1988 until 2009, the Bishop Museum also administered the
Hawaii Maritime Center
The Hawai`i Maritime Center was the principal maritime museum in the State of Hawai`i from 1988 until it closed in 2009. Located at Pier 7 of Honolulu Harbor east of Aloha Tower, the center was a campus of the Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop ...
in downtown Honolulu. Built on a former private pier of
Honolulu Harbor for the royal family, the center was the premier maritime museum in the
Pacific Rim
The Pacific Rim comprises the lands around the rim of the Pacific Ocean. The ''Pacific Basin'' includes the Pacific Rim and the islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Rim roughly overlaps with the geologic Pacific Ring of Fire.
List of co ...
with artifacts in relation to the Pacific
whaling
Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution.
It was practiced as an organized industry ...
industry and the Hawaii
steamship
A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...
industry.
On the
Big Island of Hawaiʻi, the Bishop Museum administers the
Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, specializing in indigenous Hawaiian plant life.
Since 1920, the Secretariat of the
Pacific Science Association
The Pacific Science Association (PSA) is a regional, non-governmental, scholarly organization that seeks to advance science and technology in support of sustainable development in the Pacific Rim. It was founded in 1920 and its secretariat is bas ...
(PSA), founded that year as an independent regional, non-governmental, scholarly organization, has been based at Bishop Museum. It seeks to advance science and technology in support of sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific.
''Falls of Clyde''
From 1968 until September 2008, the Bishop Museum owned the ''
Falls of Clyde'', the oldest
sail-driven
oil tanker
An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crud ...
, which was moored at the
Hawaiʻi Maritime Center. In early 2007, the ship was closed to public tours for safety reasons and in order to facilitate repairs to the deteriorating tank, which frequently caused the ship to list (tilt) dramatically. Marine experts conducted a thorough inspection of the ship. Between 1998 and 2008 the museum incurred more than $2 million in preservation costs.
The museum threatened to sink the ship by the end of 2008 unless private funds were raised for a perpetual care endowment.
On September 28, 2008, ownership was transferred to the non-profit group, Friends of Falls of Clyde, which intends to restore the ship.
In October of that same year, the Bishop Museum was criticized for having raised $600,000 to preserve the ship, and spent only about half that on the ship, and that for sandblasting that was determined to damage the integrity of the vessel. The media also pointed out other questionable spending decisions.
Gallery
File:BPBishopMuseum-Bishophall-far.JPG, Bishop Hall, 2010
File:BPBishopMuseum-Hawaiianhall-frontend.JPG, Front end of Hawaiian Hall, 2010
File:Bishop Museum, Hawaii, Sept 1958.jpg, Entrance to Hawaiian & Polynesian Hall, 1958
File:Hawnhall-staircase.JPG, Staircase to Polynesian Hall, 2010
File:BPBishopMuseum-halepili.JPG, Hale pili in Hawaiian Hall, 2010
File:BPBishopMuseum-spermwhale-skinside.JPG, Sperm whale
The sperm whale or cachalot (''Physeter macrocephalus'') is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus ''Physeter'' and one of three extant species in the sperm whale famil ...
model in Hawaiian Hall, 2010
File:John Mix Stanley - 'Hawaiian Girl with Dog', oil on canvas, 1849, Bernice P. Bishop Museum.jpg, ''Hawaiian Girl with Dog'', oil on canvas by John Mix Stanley
John Mix Stanley (January 17, 1814 – April 10, 1872) was an artist-explorer, an American painter of landscapes, and Native American portraits and tribal life. Born in the Finger Lakes region of New York, he started painting signs and portraits ...
, 1849
File:Cloak Helmet and Chief.jpg, Hawaiian royalty wore these feathered cloaks (ʻahu ʻula) and helmets. The chief in the background is Kaʻiana
Kaʻiana, also known as Keawe-Kaʻiana-a-Ahuula, (born about 1755 - died 1795) was a Native Hawaiian (kānaka ʻōiwi/maoli) warrior and ''aliʻi'' (noble) of Puna, Hawai‘i, who turned against Kamehameha I in 1795 during his conquest of Oahu an ...
File:Cannon outside the Bishop Museum Honolulu 1960.jpg, Russian cannon outside the Bishop Museum in Honolulu in 1960
File:Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, Captain Cook, Hawai‘i Island.jpg, Entrance to the Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, 2011
File:Female_gable_image,_Sawos_people,_Papua_New_Guinea,_Bishop_Museum,_1989.400.358.JPG, Papua New Guinea Sawos people men's spirit house gable
File:Hawaiian Hall - heiau recreation in miniature.jpg, Hawaiian Hall, with a heiau recreation in miniature. (2012)
File:Atrium - photograph of Charles with Bernice.jpg, Atrium – photograph of Charles Bishop with Bernice Pauahi Bishop. (2012)
File:Charles Bishop with his wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi.jpg, Charles Bishop with his wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi, in the atrium of the museum. (2012)
File:Kahili Room - Kahili Pa'a Lima in a glass case.jpg, Kahili Room – Kahili Paʻa Lima in a glass case. (2012)
File:Hawaiian Hall - akua ki'i image - wooden god.jpg, Hawaiian Hall – akua kiʻi. (2012)
File:Hawaiian Hall - hale replica with placard.jpg, Hawaiian Hall – hale replica with placard. (2012)
Publications
*''Bishop Museum Occasional Papers'' (1898–present)
*''Bishop Museum Memoirs'' (1899-1949)
*''Bishop Museum Bulletins'' (1922–present)
**''Bishop Museum Bulletins in Anthropology''
**''Bishop Museum Bulletins in Botany''
**''Bishop Museum Bulletins in Cultural and Environmental Studies''
**''Bishop Museum Bulletins in Entomology''
**''Bishop Museum Bulletins in Zoology''
*''Bishop Museum Special Publications'' (1892–present)
*''Bishop Museum Technical Reports'' (1992–present)
*''
Pacific Insects
''Pacific Insects'' was a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Entomology Department at the Bishop Museum from 1959 to 1982. It was renamed to ''International Journal of Entomology'' in 1983 and discontinued in 1985. It wa ...
'' (1959–1983)
*''International Journal of Entomology'' (1983–1985)
*''
Pacific Insects Monographs'' (1961–1986)
*''Insects of Micronesia'' (1954–present)
*''
Journal of Medical Entomology
A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to:
*Bullet journal, a method of personal organization
*Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period
*Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...
'' (1964–1986, published by the
Entomological Society of America, after 1986)
See also
*
Mangarevan expedition, a 1934 scientific expedition sponsored by the Bishop Museum to investigate the natural history of the farthest southeastern islands of Polynesia
*
Ray Jerome Baker
Ray Jerome Baker (December 1, 1880 – October, 1972) was an American photographer, film maker and lecturer. His photographs are among some of the earliest professional works in Humboldt County, California and later in Hawaii where his work focuse ...
, donor of a large collection of original prints, negatives, glass plate lantern slides, and
ephemera
*
Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden
The Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden is a Hawaiian botanical garden near Captain Cook, Hawaii in the Kona District on the Big Island of Hawaii. The gardens closed for the public on January 31, 2016. They are slated to re-open on Februa ...
*
J. T. Gulick, an early
evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
proponent who advanced concepts now known as
genetic drift
Genetic drift, also known as allelic drift or the Wright effect, is the change in the frequency of an existing gene variant (allele) in a population due to random chance.
Genetic drift may cause gene variants to disappear completely and there ...
,
anagenesis
Anagenesis is the gradual evolution of a species that continues to exist as an interbreeding population. This contrasts with cladogenesis, which occurs when there is branching or splitting, leading to two or more lineages and resulting in separate ...
,
cladogenesis
Cladogenesis is an evolutionary splitting of a parent species into two distinct species, forming a clade.
This event usually occurs when a few organisms end up in new, often distant areas or when environmental changes cause several extinctions, ...
, and
speciation
Speciation is the evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species. The biologist Orator F. Cook coined the term in 1906 for cladogenesis, the splitting of lineages, as opposed to anagenesis, phyletic evolution within ...
, sold his shell collection to the Bishop Museum.
References
External links
*
Publications onlineOfficial website of the Amy B.H. Ethnobotanical GardenPacific Science Association*
**
{{authority control
Hawaii culture
Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums
Museums established in 1889
Museums in Honolulu
Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Hawaii
Museums on the National Register of Historic Places
Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in Hawaii
History museums in Hawaii
Science museums in Hawaii
Ethnic museums in Hawaii
Natural history museums in Hawaii
Art museums and galleries in Hawaii
Natural Science Collections Alliance members
Historic American Buildings Survey in Hawaii
Pacific Islands-American culture in Honolulu
Polynesian-American culture in Honolulu
1889 establishments in Hawaii
National Register of Historic Places in Honolulu
*