This list of museums in Hawaii contains museums which are defined for this context as institutions (including nonprofit organizations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultural, artistic, scientific, or historical interest and make their collections or related exhibits available for public viewing. Non-profit and university art galleries are also included. Museums that exist only in cyberspace (virtual museums) are not included.
Name | Location | Island | Subject | Summary | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Industry | Hawaiian sugar plantation history and heritage | ||||
Historic house | Historic ranch | ||||
ARTS at Marks Garage | Art | website | |||
Big Island | Science | Located at Kona International Airport, space science and artifacts of astronaut Ellison Onizuka | |||
Maui | Multiple | Historic 19th century house museum with Hawaiian history and art, collection of land snails | |||
Maui | Historic house | website, operated by Lahaina Restoration Foundation, mid-19th century missionary home | |||
Honolulu | Oahu | Multiple | Art, Hawaiian history and culture, Pacific cultures, science, Hawaii Maritime Center | ||
Honolulu | Oahu | Biographical | Life and works of Father Damien | ||
Big Island | Art | In historic building that served as District Courthouse and Police Station | |||
Honolulu | Oahu | Art | Performances and changing exhibits of traditional and contemporary arts of the Pacific region | ||
Gallery ‘Iolani | Oahu | Art | website, part of Windward Community College | ||
South Kona | Big Island | Living | Operated by the Kona Historical Society, site of Henry Nicholas Greenwell (1826–1891) store | ||
Historic house | 1860s sugar plantation | ||||
Lahaina | Maui | Prison | website, operated by Lahaina Restoration Foundation, former Lahaina Prison | ||
Lahaina | Maui | Media | Operated by Lahaina Restoration Foundation, antique printing press equipment | ||
Maui | Open air | website, includes local history museum, historic courthouse, jail, and four authentic Hawaiian hale (houses) | |||
Honolulu | Oahu | Children's | website | ||
Kailua-Kona | Big Island | Children's Science | website | ||
Hawaii Nature Center | Maui | Natural history | website, facility in Maui features museum exhibits; also an education center in Makiki Valley in Honolulu | ||
Hawaii Plantation Village | Oahu | Living | website, story of life on Hawaii's sugar plantations (c. 1900) | ||
Hawaii Science and Technology Museum | Hilo | Big Island | Science | website, mobile science museum | |
Honolulu | Oahu | Art | Permanent and temporary exhibitions of Hawaiian art | ||
Honolulu | Oahu | Art | Also includes Spalding House with contemporary art | ||
Honolulu Police Department Law Enforcement Museum | Honolulu | Oahu | Law enforcement | website, evolution of law enforcement in Hawaii, operated by the Honolulu Police Department | |
Kauaʻi | Mill | website | |||
Hui No`eau Visual Arts Center | Maui | Art | website, includes fine art gallery | ||
Big Island | Historic house | Former vacation home of Hawaiian royalty | |||
Hilo | Big Island | Astronomy | Hawaiian culture and history, astronomy (particularly at the Mauna Kea Observatories), and the overlap between the two | ||
Honolulu | Oahu | Historic house | Royal palace of King David Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani | ||
Big Island | Art | Art museum of early and mid twentieth century Hawaii artists, also retail gallery, operated by the Hawaii Preparatory Academy | |||
Big Island | Science | Geological museum dedicated to seismology & volcanology, at Kīlauea in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park | |||
Honolulu | Oahu | Ethnic | website, history, heritage and culture of the Japanese American experience in Hawaii | ||
Honolulu | Oahu | Art | Part of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Asian and tribal art | ||
Honolulu | Oahu | Hawaii's legal history; located in Ali'iolani Hale | |||
Kauaʻi | Multiple | Includes art and artifacts of Native Hawaiians, local and natural history artifacts, and art exhibits | |||
Koa Art Gallery | Honolulu | Oahu | Art | website, part of Kapiolani Community College | |
Kaua'i | Natural history | Nnatural and cultural history of Waimea Canyon State Park and Koke'e State Park | |||
South Kona | Big Island | Living | Operated by the Kona Historical Society, depicts coffee pioneer's story with daily lives of early Japanese immigrants during the period of 1920-1945 | ||
Lahaina | Maui | Local history | website, operated by Lahaina Restoration Foundation | ||
Laupahoehoe Train Museum | Big Island | Railroad | website | ||
Lucoral Museum | Honolulu | Oahu | Natural history | website, corals, pearls, gemstones and fossils from around the world | |
Makawao History Museum | Makawao | Maui | Multiple | website, plantations, ranching, schools and churches, ethnic groups – the whole gamut of Makawao experience | |
Hilo | Big Island | Natural history | Features Hawaiian culture, shells and minerals | ||
Maui Arts & Cultural Center | Maui | Art | website, includes fine art gallery | ||
Honolulu | Oahu | Historic house | Three houses that interpret the "missionary period" of Hawaiian history, 1820–1863 | ||
Hilo | Big Island | Natural history | Exhibits on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, now a National Monument, including fish and coral life | ||
Hilo | Big Island | Natural history | Botanical garden with museum about tropical plants and their role in Hawaiian culture | ||
Big Island | Astronomy | On the slopes of Mauna Kea, stargazing programs, information about the telescopes and astronomical work done there | |||
Oahu | Aviation | Located on Ford Island, includes historic aircraft, three historic hangars and an air traffic control tower | |||
Hilo | Big Island | Science | History of the April 1, 1946 Pacific tsunami and the May 23, 1960 Chilean tsunami which affected Hilo | ||
Big Island | Historic house | Working ranch with tours of two historic houses | |||
Oahu | Ethnic | Polynesian-themed living museum with displays of culture and craft, operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | |||
Big Island | Archaeology | Park with complex of archeological sites and reconstructed temple and thatched structures | |||
Big Island | Archaeology | Temple ruins and exhibits | |||
R. W. Meyer Sugar Mill Museum | Industry | information, information, also known as Molokai Museum and Cultural Center, historic sugar mill owned by Rudolph Wilhelm Meyer and museum | |||
Honolulu | Oahu | Historic house | Victorian retreat for Queen Emma of Hawaii | ||
Queen's Medical Center Historical Room | Honolulu | Oahu | Medical | website, exhibits about the founding of the hospital and the early days of medicine in Hawaii | |
Honolulu | Oahu | Art | Historic Doris Duke mansion with Islamic art, furnishings and decorative art; tours by reservation only | ||
Tropic Lightning Museum | Oahu | Military | website, history of the 25th Infantry Division and Wheeler Army Airfield | ||
University of Hawaii Art Gallery | Honolulu | Oahu | Art | website | |
Oahu | Military | Located at Fort DeRussy | |||
Oahu | Military | Memorial and museum about the sunken USS Arizona | |||
Maritime | World War II submarine and museum about submarines | ||||
Pearl Harbor | Oahu | Maritime | Museum battleship | ||
Waimea Sugar Mill Camp Museum | Kauaʻi | Local history | information, history and culture of Hawaii's old sugar plantation communities and plantation tour | ||
Kauaʻi | Historic house | 1837 mission house | |||
Honolulu | Oahu | Historic house | House where Queen Liliʻuokalani was arrested during the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, later Executive Mansion for twelve governors of Hawaiʻi | ||
Whaler's Village Museum | Maui | Industry | website, whaling industry exhibits and whale information | ||
Lahaina | Maui | Ethnic | Operated by Lahaina Restoration Foundation, Chinese cultural history in Maui |