74 ART on view Gallery, all constructed at a cost of $60,000. The building’s original cabinetry, which is still in use, is made of koa wood and, some say, is more valuable than the museum building itself. In 1890, the Hawaiian government was persuaded to incorporate the Queen Emma Collection into that of the newly formed Bishop Museum and, in the following years, additions and adjunct buildings, including the Polynesian Hall, Jhamandas Watumull Planetarium (the first in Polynesia), Mamiya Science Center, and Castle Memorial Building for temporary exhibitions, were added to the complex. The museum’s collection of cultural artifacts has grown over the decades through gifts from other Hawaiian royalty and members of the community, as well as through purchase, exchange, and collecting expeditions. Today, the museum’s cultural treasures include more than two million items ranging from large Hawaiian royal objects to any number of items associated with daily living in Hawai‘i and other Pacific Islands. Equally valuable and respected are the museum’s holdings of scientific specimens of birds, mammals, reptiles, shells, invertebrates, plants, fish, and insects, which are among the most important in the world. Though it is technically a private institution, the Bishop Museum was designated the Territory of Hawai‘i’s official repository for collections in the late 1920s because of the importance of its collection. In 1988, the State Legislature made it the State of Hawai‘i’s official Museum of Natural and Cultural History and in 1992 it added the designation of the Hawai‘i Biological Survey, charging it with supporting natural resource management and agricultural pest control by maintaining reference collections of Hawai‘i’s plants and animals and with compiling a comprehensive inventory of these organisms. The Pacific Collection The Polynesian Hall was the first addition to the Bishop Museum’s original Hawaiian Hall. Bishop commissioned the new wing to house the museum’s growing collection of Pacific Island cultural artifacts and natural history specimens, and William F. Smith, who designed the original museum building, created the Polynesian Hall to match the Romanesque style of the original structure, although the materials were slightly different. Construction began in October 1892 and was completed in August 1894. The first installation, which was created by the museum’s first director, William Brigham, opened on December 19, 1894. To date, the Bishop Museum holds more than: • 2.4 million Pacific and Hawaiian cultural objects • 14 million insect specimens (third largest in the US) • 6 million shell specimens (ninth largest mollusk collection in the US) • 600,000 plant specimens (including the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of Hawaiian plants) • 230,000 zoological specimens (fish, birds, mammals, invertebrates) • 1 million historical photographs, artworks, and archival materials • 115,000 cataloged volumes of biological sciences, Hawaiian, and Pacific rare books, materials, and serials FIG. 7 (above left): Chief mourner’s costume. Tahiti, Society Islands. Pearl shell; coconut shell; feathers; wood; barkcloth; pandanus; cordage; adhesive; red, yellow, and black dyes. Bishop Museum inv. #1971.198.001a–f, National Museum of Ireland, Gift, 1971. FIG. 8 (above): Earplugs, pu taiana (front) and ha‘akai (rear). Marquesas Islands. Bone (front), whale tooth (rear). Front pair was a gift from Matuuni to Rev. D. Baldwin, 1862. Bishop Museum inv. #B.02863/4 (Samuel M. Damon Collection, Gift, 1921) and D.00062 (Mrs. J. J. Davis, Purchase, 1951). FIG. 9 (above): Ancestor figure, tino aitu. Nukuoro, Pohnpei State, Caroline Islands. Wood, possibly breadfruit. Bishop Museum inv. #B.03582, J. L. Young, Purchase, 1920. FIG. 10 (below): Kahili (royal standards) and portraits of Hawaiian monarchs. Photo courtesy of the Bishop Museum.
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