Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 7, 1 July 2006 — OHA gives $2 million toward Bishop Museum restoration [ARTICLE]

OHA gives $2 million toward Bishop Museum restoration

By KWŪ staff In late May, OHA's Board of Trustees approved a $2 million grant to Bishop Museum to assist with the restoration of the museum's historic Hawaiian Hall, built in the 1890s. Museum Director William Brown told The Honolulu Advertiser that OHA's contribution will cover about 10 percent of the estimated $20 million restoration project. "These are the oldest, most important buildings, at the museum," Brown told the paper. "They've really never had a major renovation and improvement since they were built." Hawaiian Hall was the original structure at the museum, founded in 1889 by Charles Reed Bishop to house the extensive eolleehon of Hawaiian artifacts and heirlooms belonging to his late wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last descendant of the royal Kamehameha family. In the years since, the museum has expanded to include a variety of buildings containing millions of artifacts, documents and photographs about Hawai'i and other Pacific Island cultures. Hawaiian Hall is due to close for the renovation work starting in mid-Iuly, reopening to the public sometime in 2008. In addition to new lighting and displays, the building will be air-conditioned and equipped with an elevator. Brown told the Advertiser that the hall will be devoted solely to exhibits of Hawaiian heritage and will contain at least five times as many displays as it houses currently. OHA Administrator Clyde Nāmu'o told the paper that the agency's grant was "an acknowledgment that our cultural resources that are being maintained by the museum are important to Native Hawaiians. We also understand that the renovation of Hawaiian Hall will refocus some of their displays on Hawaiian history — whieh is something that the trustees fully support." E2