Bishop Museum Announces New Hawaiian Hall Treasure Case Installation: A Woman of the World: Bernice Pauahi Bishop in Europe, 1875-1876

Bishop Museum, the State of Hawaiʻi Museum of Natural and Cultural History, announces a new installation in the third floor Treasure Case of its historic Hawaiian Hall: A Woman of the World: Bernice Pauahi Bishop in Europe, 1875-1876, on view now through early Dec. 2025.

Curated by Sarah Kuaiwa, Ph.D., Bishop Museum curator for Hawaiʻi and Pacific cultural resources, and designed by Susan Yamamoto, the installation shares the personal accounts and keepsakes of the Museum's namesake, Bernice Pauahi Bishop, from her travels across America and Europe.

"As a student at the Chiefs' Children's School*, young Princess Bernice Pauahi Pākī was an ardent student of geography, art history, and world history. Her lessons were enhanced by stories from visitors, teachers, and peers who traveled throughout America and Europe on behalf of the Hawaiian Kingdom," said Kuaiwa. "When given the rare opportunity to travel internationally with her husband, Charles Reed Bishop, she made the most of it, absorbing the art and culture she had only heard and read about, and the music she'd heard performed in Hawaiʻi, but not in the place it was created."

*Today known as the Royal School.

Between May 1875 and September 1876, the Bishops spent 481 days — well more than a year — traveling extensively through America and Europe on what is known as a Grand Tour, an extended and extensive educational trip.

They made the trip across North America from San Francisco to New York by train. After crossing the Atlantic by boat, they journeyed as far north as Edinburgh, Scotland, as far south as Naples, Italy, as far west as Southampton, England, and as far east as Vienna in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

On their return trip, the couple traveled throughout New York and also visited Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington, D.C. Bernice Pauahi was diligent in recording her experiences abroad in her diary. She also wrote letters to members of her household and family to share updates. These written records provide some of her thoughts as she experienced European culture for the first time.

"Bernice Pauahi was extremely excited and joyful as she visited famous places across Europe with her husband," shared Kuaiwa. "She likely saw this as a once-in-a lifetime trip and her busy itinerary indicates that she made the most of it."

"Her travel journals reveal that she was an ardent enthusiast of art history, music, and theater," Kuaiwa added. "One need only look at her activities during the autumn and winter months of 1875 and 1876 to see how she fully immersed herself in the rich artistic traditions of Austria and Italy."

"I spent the morning in the museum admiring and wondering anew [at] the vast treasures kept there." — Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop in Naples, Italy | December 19, 1875, her 44th birthday

After visiting Germany, the Bishops traveled south, first toward Vienna and then to various cities across Italy including Venice, Florence, Rome, and Naples. Pauahi purchased a number of souvenirs and gifts during this leg of her journey that represent her appreciation for the regional crafts, materials, and artistic skill that she saw in museums, galleries, and sites she visited. After her return to Hawaiʻi in September 1876, she displayed these treasured pieces in a curio case in her home as cherished mementos of her Grand Tour.

These pieces are part of the collection eventually incorporated into Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, established in 1889 and named by her husband, Charles Reed Bishop, in her honor.

For more information on A Woman of the World: Bernice Pauahi Bishop in Europe, 1875-1876, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, and Bishop Museum, please visit BishopMuseum.org/WomanOfTheWorld.

All photos sent with this news release are credit Bishop Museum. Notes:

• "Earrings": Glass Mosaic Earrings
• "Paperweight":
  • Left: Marble Specimen Mosaic Paperweight.
  • Right: Millefiori Glass Paperweight