Collectors take note! The Bishop Museum Archives has donated a selection of original (and extremely collectible) historic photographs by Hawai'i photographers Ray Jerome Baker, Tai Sing Loo, and N. R. Farbman as silent auction items at the 2 nd annual benefit dinner for the Art Restoration and Picture Gallery Fund at Morton's, The Steakhouse, at Ala Moana Center Monday, March 5, 2007, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has awarded Bishop Museum with a $290,000 grant over eighteen months to study climate change planning and mitigation to help stem the threats of global warming.

Hitachi and Kaimana Ventures Sign Moanalua Garden Park Support Agreement that Includes "Hitachi Tree"

The only surviving example of an authentic Hawaiian House in Hawai'i today is the Hale Pili (grass house) at Bishop Museum. The Mary D. and Walter F. Frear Eleemosynary Trust has recently announced a major gift of $500,000 to support the renovation of the iconic Hawaiian Hall, with a special earmark for the restoration of the Hale Pili, and other needed projects.

Lost Maritime Cultures: China and the Pacific opens at Bishop Museum February 24 and remains on view through April 15, 2007. Volunteers are needed to work one 4-hour shift per week throughout the run of the landmark exhibition. Volunteer shifts are available both in the mornings and afternoons from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 12:45 p.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

The Beneficiaries and the Trustees of the Estate of Samuel Mills Damon have announced the gift of a rare and valuable collection of more than 600 significant Hawaiian and Pacific artifacts to Bishop Museum, according to Tim Johns, Chief Operating Officer for the Estate of Samuel Mills Damon. The monetary value of the important collection is estimated at more than $1 million, but its historical and cultural significance is regarded as "priceless."

The Bishop Museum Press plans to issue a new edition of Kepelino's Traditions of Hawaii this spring on the 75 th anniversary of its original publication as a Bishop Museum Bulletin #95 in 1932. The new edition will feature a facsimile of the original Hawaiian and English text edited by Martha Warren Beckwith, as well as notes written by Hawaiian scholar Mary Kawena Pukui who worked on the original translation. It will also include a new introductory essay by contemporary Hawaiian scholar Noelani Arista.