Mary Kawena Pukui, known as Kawena, is recognized as the leading authority of her time on Hawaiian language and culture. Kawena came to Bishop Museum in 1928 to translate the Museum's collection of Hawaiian newspapers and manuscripts. She spent 34 years working in the Museum's Library and Archives, where Kawena cemented her legacy as a Hawaiian scholar, cultural practitioner, and cherished leader of the Bishop Museum. Kawena quite literally wrote the book on Hawaiian language, co-authoring the Hawaiian-English Dictionary with Samuel H. Elbert in 1957. Over the course of her storied career, Kawena authored at least 50 manuscripts, composed many mele, and was an expert on hula. Kawena embodied Bishop Museum's mission to explore, celebrate, and perpetuate Hawaii's extraordinary culture. Her 'ike continues to be seen and felt across the Museum.

We are proud to honor Mary Kawena Pukui's enduring impact on Bishop Museum, the local community, and the Museum's global audience through The Mary Kawena Pukui Society. Created in 2007, the Society recognizes donors who are supporting Bishop Museum through a bequest or other planned giving method. The Mary Kawena Pukui Society is open by invitation to those who remember Bishop Museum in their estate plans.

The Society meets each year to gather like-minded supporters of the Museum and give them an opportunity to enjoy Bishop Museum and to learn of current work and future plans of the Museum. If you have already included Bishop Museum in your estate plans or are considering such an inclusion, please call the Development office at 808.847.8281, or send an email to [email protected].