View source for Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives

{{short description|Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States}}
{{For|other mission houses|Mission House (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{infobox museum
|name= Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives
|image= Mission Houses Museum Front.jpg
|imagesize= 260px
|established= 1920
|location= 553 South King Street, [[Honolulu, Hawaii]]
|coordinates={{Coord|21.3040|N|157.8570|W|display=title,inline}}
|director=
|website= http://www.missionhouses.org/
}}
The '''Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives''' in [[Honolulu, Hawaii]], was established in 1920 by the [[Hawaiian Mission Children's Society]], a private, non-profit organization and genealogical society, on the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first [[Christianity|Christian]] [[missionary|missionaries]] in Hawai{{okina}}i. In 1962, the [[Mission Houses (Hawaii)|Mission Houses]], together with [[Kawaiahao Church|Kawaiaha{{okina}}o Church]], both built by those early missionaries, were designated a U.S. [[National Historic Landmark]] (NHL) under the combined name [[Kawaiahao Church and Mission Houses]]. In 1966 all the NHLs were included in the [[National Register of Historic Places]].
The Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives collects, preserves, interprets, and exhibits documents, artifacts, and other records of Hawaii's "missionary" period from about 1820 to 1863. It interprets its historic site and collections and makes these collections available for research, educational purposes, and public enjoyment. The archive's collection holds over 3,000 Hawaiian, Western, and Pacific artifacts, and more than 12,000 books, manuscripts, original letters, diaries, journals, illustrations and Hawaiian church records.
While the Hawaiian Mission Houses has an ongoing digitization project, they uploaded items relevant to Lahaina's history such as photos, journals, drawings, and letters after the devastating [[2023 Hawaii wildfires|2023 fire in Lāhainā]] to aid in the eventual recovery of the historic town.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Carpenter |first=Mark |date=September 11, 2023 |title=Archivists collect images of historic Lahaina to ensure community's rich past is never forgotten |url=https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/09/12/archivists-collect-images-historic-lahaina-ensure-communitys-rich-past-is-never-forgotten/ |access-date=2023-09-12 |work=Hawaii News Now |language=en}}</ref>
==Houses==
The evolution of Mission House architecture illustrates the progressive adaptation of missionaries from [[New England]] to the climate, culture, and building materials they encountered in the [[Hawaiian Islands|Sandwich Islands]].
===Oldest Frame House===
The materials to build the Oldest Frame House (Ka Hale Lā{{okina}}au 'the wood house') arrived by ship around [[Cape Horn]] from [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]] in 1821. They had already been measured and cut, ready to assemble into a frame house suitable for the climate of New England: with small windows to help keep the heat inside and short eaves so as not to risk cracking under a load of snow.
Though principally occupied by the seven members of Daniel Chamberlain's family, it often housed as many as five other missionary families, along with occasional ailing sailors or orphans. The small parlor served as a schoolhouse, and the basement served as the dining hall. The cookhouse was a separate building.<ref>Sandler, Mehta, and Haines 2008, p. 11</ref>
===Chamberlain House===
The [[Chamberlain House (Honolulu, Hawaii)|Chamberlain House]] (Ka Hale Kamalani) was built in 1831 from materials procured locally: coral blocks cut from reefs offshore and lumber salvaged from ships. Designed by the mission's quartermaster, [[Levi Chamberlain]], to hold supplies as well as people, it had two stories, an [[attic]], and a [[Basement|cellar]]. The windows are larger, more numerous, and shuttered against the sun.<ref name=smh12>Sandler, Mehta, and Haines 2008, p. 12</ref> The building now serves as the main exhibition hall for the Museum.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.missionhouses.org/collections/historic-buildings |title=Mission Houses Museum: Historic Structures |access-date=March 29, 2015 |archive-date=December 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225191215/https://www.missionhouses.org/collections/historic-buildings |url-status=dead }}</ref>
===Print House===
In 1841, a covered porch and balcony were added to the frame house, and an extra bedroom was built next door out of coral blocks. Both additions show further adaptation to an indoor-outdoor lifestyle appropriate to the climate.<ref name=smh12/> The extra coral building later became the mission's Print House (Ka Hale Pa{{okina}}i) and now serves as a museum exhibit to show how the missionaries and native Hawaiians worked together to produce the first materials printed in the [[Hawaiian language]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.missionhouses.org/collections/historic-buildings |title=Mission Houses Museum: Historic Structures |access-date=March 29, 2015 |archive-date=December 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225191215/https://www.missionhouses.org/collections/historic-buildings |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Honolulu-Mission-Houses-Bingham.JPG|The Oldest Frame House (Ka Hale Lā{{okina}}au 'the wood house'), 1821
Image:Honolulu-Mission-Houses-Chamberlain.JPG|The [[Chamberlain House (Honolulu, Hawaii)|Chamberlain House]] (Ka Hale Kamalani), 1831
Image:Honolulu-Mission-Houses-Press.JPG|The Print House (Ka Hale Pa{{okina}}i), 1841
</gallery>
==See also==
*[[List of the oldest buildings in Hawaii]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Bibliography==
* Sandler, Rob, Julie Mehta, and Frank S. Haines (2008), ''Architecture in Hawai'i: A Chronological Survey'', new edition. Honolulu: Mutual Publishing.
* Simpson, MacKinnon (1998), ''Museum Homes of Honolulu: A Guidebook'', Honolulu: Mission Houses Museum.
{{NRHP}}
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[[Category:Museums in Honolulu]]
[[Category:Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums]]
[[Category:Museums established in 1920]]
[[Category:Hawaiian architecture]]
[[Category:History museums in Hawaii]]
[[Category:National Historic Landmarks in Hawaii]]
[[Category:1920 establishments in Hawaii]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Honolulu]]