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.

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.

Pauahi purchased a number of souvenirs and gifts during this her journeys 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.