The Contemporary Museum

Bishop Museum was founded in 1889 by Charles Reed Bishop in honor of his late wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last descendant of the royal Kamehameha family. The Museum was established to house the extensive collection of Hawaiian artifacts and royal family heirlooms of the Princess, and has expanded to include millions of artifacts, documents and photographs about Hawai‘i and other Pacific island cultures. <br> Today, Bishop Museum is the largest museum in the state and the premier natural and cultural history institution in the Pacific, recognized throughout the world for its cultural collections, research projects, consulting services and public educational programs. It also has one of the largest natural history specimen collections in the world. Serving and representing the interests of Native Hawaiians is a primary purpose of the Museum.

USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park's mission is to restore and preserve the World War II submarine USS Bowfin (SS-287), and submarine-related artifacts on our grounds and in the Museum. Bowfin Park's parent organization, the Pacific Fleet Submarine Memorial Association (PFSMA), is a non-profit group that receives no state or federal funding.

Helicopters, tanks, guns now silenced, and vacant bunkers welcome you to the U.S. Army Museum of Hawai'i. Once a bastion built to protect Hawai'i from invading forces, the structure now houses a Museum that tells the military story of Hawai'i, from ancient times to the Gulf War and the War in Iraq. Each of these hostilities is covered graphically in separate displays with photographs and sound effect creating a real "you were there" experience.

The Mission Houses Museum, a National Historic Landmark, is the primary program of the Hawaiian Mission Children's Society, a non-profit educational institution and genealogical society. The Museum interprets the "missionary period" of Hawaiian history, 1820-1863, which is fundamental to an understanding of contemporary Hawaii.

Step back into the 1800s at this restored homestead, where David and Sarah Lyman settled as missionaries in 1839. Their descendants opened the museum nearly a century later, transforming the property into a window onto 19th-century life. The original Mission House now sits on both State and National historic registers, accessible through guided tours that reveal period details and furnishings—particularly atmospheric on cooler winter days when the rooms feel lived-in and intimate. Next door, the museum building itself showcases an impressive array of Hawaiian artifacts, artwork, and specimens spanning natural history. You'll find rotating exhibitions, a research archive, and a thoughtfully curated shop alongside the permanent collections. Walking both buildings gives visitors an uncommonly layered perspective: how people actually inhabited these islands generations ago, what's unfolding in Hawaiian culture right now, and where the islands are headed. It's the kind of experience that stays with you long after you leave.

The goal of the Pacific Tsunami Museum is to promote public tsunami education for the people of Hawaii and the Pacific Region. The museum will also preserve the social and cultural history of Hawaii and promote economic development on the island of Hawaii as well as statewide. The museum will serve as a living memorial to those who lost their lives in past tsunami events.

A small, community-run museum located on the beautiful Hamakua Heritage Coast of the Big Island of Hawai'i. Honoring the colorful history of the Hilo Railroad, which began in 1899 and lasted to 1946, when railroad tracks and facilities were irreparably damaged by a devastating tidal wave. The museum is located in an old railway company home, which is furnished as it would have been in the 1930s.