Founded in 1889 in Honolulu’s Kalihi district by Charles Reed Bishop in memory of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the Bishop Museum grew from a memorial home for royal heirlooms into Hawaiʻi’s state museum of natural and cultural history and the largest institution of its kind in Polynesia. Built on the original Kamehameha Schools boys’ campus, it preserves major historic buildings such as Hawaiian Hall and Polynesian Hall and holds especially important collections for Hawaiʻi and the Pacific, including royal papers, oral histories, and more than 24 million natural history specimens. It also became a major center for Pacific research, publishing, archives, and public debate over Hawaiian heritage and stewardship.