State funding for the Bishop Museum - Legislative Reference Bureau

Brief History
Chapter 3
THE BISHOP MUSEUM
The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum was originally founded to store
Hawaiian heirlooms, such as the Kamehameha dynasty crown, royal treasures,
and a variety of artifacts. These ancient items were in the care of Princess
Bernice Pauahi, one of the last high-ranking female ali'i of the Kamehameha
family, and Queen Emma, widow of King Kamehameha IV, when Queen Emma,
Princess Pauahi, and Princess Pauahi's husband, Charles Reed Bishop decided
to store the Hawaiian collections in a building that Bishop would provide.
Mrs. Bishop died on October 16, 1884. Her will of October 31, 1883,
creating the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate, gave most of her real property in
fee simple to a trust managed by five trustees to establish and maintain the
Kamehameha Schools. It was on the original Kamehameha School site that Mr.
Bishop, in 1890, with the consent of the other trustees of the Bishop Estate,
set out to house the royal Hawaiian holdings in a building known as the
Bernice P. Bisho~ Museum.
Gifts from Mr. Bishop to the trustees of the Bishop Estate included the
Museum objects, as well as land at Waipi'o Valley on the island of Hawaii and
the sum of $30,000 for the maintenance of the Museum.
When the trustees of the Bishop Estate realized that their actions with
respect to the establishment and operation of the Bishop Museum were not
legally provided for under the will of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, a petition was
drawn up to create separate and distinct trusts for the Museum and the
Kamehameha Schools. The Museum trust was to be administered by a board
of trustees to be composed of the Bishop Estate trustees and two other
individuals.