ON EXHIBIT
COURTESY MISSION HOUSES MUSEUM
Dr. Gerrit P. Judd, who arrived in Hawaii in 1828, once used this medicine chest made of mahogany. Judd was kept busy tending to the Hawaiian community, which was succumbing in record numbers to serious diseases brought to the islands by Caucasians.
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Isle treasures
Part II
The Mission Houses Museum has organized "Treasures of Hawaii's Past," an exhibit of items from the Hawaii of the 1800s, by themes. The show is held in a mission house that serves as an art gallery, and each room displays items related to different topics.
The library room showcases books and journals, including a Hawaiian bible, a hymnal encased in tortoise shell and a missionary's journal that included illustrations of marine life and lists of items transported from New England to Hawaii.
Other rooms feature quilts, photographs and the kitchen. The "Body of Knowledge" room exhibits a natural history collection of shells and rocks, items from a printing press and a medicine chest.
The items, a small part of the Mission Houses' extensive collection, are documents of the cultural merge between the Hawaiians and the missionaries as well as indicators of the political climate of the day.
Today's "Gallery" page is the last of two parts that showcases a few of the everyday items that reveal what life was like during the era.
The Mission Houses Museum is located at 553 S. King St. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays. Admission is $10 general; $8 kama'aina, seniors and military; and $6 students. Call 531-0481.
COURTESY MISSION HOUSES MUSEUM
A pocket watch given to the Rev. James Kekela by President Abraham Lincoln. The story goes that Kekela, the first Hawaiian ordained Christian minister, who was sent to mission in the Marquesas, saved the life of an American sailor there. Today, Kekela's descendents travel to the Mission Houses Museum once a year to take a look at the famous watch given to their great-great-great grandfather.
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COURTESY MISSION HOUSES MUSEUM
Joseph Nawahi was a local boy who studied with the missionaries. As an adult, Nawahi became a renaissance man of sorts. He worked as a teacher and then a politician, started a newspaper and studied Western art. Nawahi became the first Hawaiian person to paint in the Western style. The oil on canvas, above, is his rendition of Hilo Bay, circa 1868.
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COURTESY MISSION HOUSES MUSEUM
The Hawaiian quilt flag, made by the women of Kawaiahao Church, was a response to political events of the late 19th century, when American flags were being flown in place of Hawaii's flag. In quiet protest, quilts bearing the Hawaiian flag were hung outside as well.
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