On June 22, 1891, the Bishop Museum opened the doors to admit its first registered guest: Queen Lili'uokalani.
The museum was founded in 1889 by Hawai'i financier and philanthropist Charles Reed Bishop as a memorial to his late wife, Bernice Pauahi Bishop — last descendant of the royal Kamehameha family.
Although the original iconic brownstone building was completed in 1890, it would be more than a year before it would be ready for the public.
The museum's stated mission was to study, preserve and tell the stories of the cultures and natural history of Hawai'i and the Pacific.
Its primary function was to house the vast collection of artifacts and royal heirlooms that had belonged to the princess. Over the years, that collection was expanded and eventually included millions of items, each tagged, numbered and cataloged.
Among the original acquisitions were the sacred kahili, or royal standards that belonged to ali'i. Each kahili was believed to be spiritually endowed and possessed of great mana, or spiritual power. Kahili were considered so extraordinary that a special exhibit room was designed to hold them.
Bishop Museum item No. 1 was the personal kahili of Pauahi — a massive display of stunning black plumage, known as 'Ele'eleualani, or Black Rain of Heaven, atop a 16-foot wooden shaft.
