52 DIRECTORY OF AMERICAN MUSEUMS 



Birds, on exhibition, 464, in storage, 4259, types and figured specimens, 

 144; Mammals, on exhibition, 45. There are 4 large and 7 small groups 

 of animals exhibited in natural surroundings. Of these, 2 Hawaiian 

 bird groups (Phaethon lepturus and Nycticorax nycticorax ncevius) are 

 especially noteworthy. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. The founding of the Bishop Museum 

 resulted from an unwritten agreement between three Hawaiian prin- 

 cesses, Mrs. Bernice Pauahi Bishop, Princess Ruth Keelikolani, and 

 Queen Emma, widow of Kamehameha IV, to bequeath their respective 

 collections as material for a museum of Kamehameha relics. The final 

 establishment of the museum was made possible by the munificence 

 of the Hon. Charles Reed Bishop, who in 1889 provided funds for the 

 housing of these three collections. At this time other collections were 

 purchased by Mr. Bishop as follows: ethnological collections of J. S. 

 Emerson and G. H. Dole from Hawaii, of Eric Craig from Polynesia 

 and Melanesia, and a choice Papuan collection made in German New 

 Guinea; also an extremely valuable collection of Hawaiian birds made 

 by Mr. Mills. In 1891 the collections of the Hawaiian government 

 museum were loaned to the Bishop Museum. In the same year Mr. 

 Bishop transferred the museum to the gentlemen then acting as 

 trustees of the Bernice P. Bishop estate, and provided an endowment 

 consisting of land valued at $40,000 and $30,000 in 6 per cent govern- 

 ment bonds. In 1894 the Hawaiian provisional government deposited 

 the royal feather robe, crown, and thrones in the museum. In 1895 

 the large and varied Pacific collection of the American board of com- 

 missioners for foreign missions was loaned to the museum and later 

 purchased by Mr. Bishop. In 1896 control of the museum passed into 

 the hands of the Bernice P. Bishop museum trust. At this time Mr. 

 Bishop added property to the value of $203,000 to the endowment of 

 the museum, and in the following year he made a further endowment 

 of $92,000. 



FINANCIAL SUPPORT. An income of $35,000 a year from its 

 endowment. , 



BUILDING. The first building was erected in 1890 at a cost of 

 $66,700, defrayed by Mr. Bishop. In 1894 an additional building was 

 erected by Mr. Bishop at a cost of $77,200. In 1903 a new Hawaiian 

 hall was erected by Mr. Bishop at a cost of $126,300. A building 

 designed to provide laboratories and storerooms is about to be erected. 

 There is at present 17,312 square feet of floor space available for 

 exhibition, and 5200 for offices, etc. Of the latter, 2800 square feet will 

 be converted to exhibition space on completion of the new laboratory. 



