Lyman Museum

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		Museum Galleries



Lyman Museum & Mission House 276 Haili Street Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Phone 808.935.5021 Fax 808.969.7685 Hours: Monday - Saturday 10:00 am - 4:30 pm Mission House Tours 11:00 am and 2:00 pm Closed on New Year's Day Memorial Day 4th of July Labor Day Thanksgiving Christmas Day Admission Kama`aina: $8 adults, $6 seniors, $3 children (ages 6-17), $17 family Out-of-State: $10 adults, $8 seniors, $3 children, $21 family University Students: $5

		Special Exhibit

This special exhibit offers the chance to view rarely exhibited paintings, photographs, film, curiosities and oddities from the Lyman Museum collections in celebration of Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's 100th Anniversary. Paintings by Nāwahī, Bailey, and two major Volcano School painters, Hitchcock and Furneaux, will be on display. Photographs ranging from the 1880s Mauna Loa eruption to present-day Kīlauea, as well as recently discovered and digitized film footage from Halema`uma`u (ca. 1930s), Puna (1955), Kīlauea Iki (1959), and Kapoho (1960) eruptions will debut. Among the curiosities included in the exhibit are eruption specimens (tephra) and the sextant of Thomas Jaggar, founder and first director of the HVO. Excerpts from missionary Sarah Lyman’s Earthquake Journal, an important primary source for geologists as perhaps the earliest record of volcanic activity on Hawai`i Island, are also included.

Programs and Events

Yellowstone: A Closer Look at a Restless Supervolcano

Monday, February 13, 7:00-8:30 p.m. Yellowstone is the largest potentially active volcanic system in North America. Over millenia, it has produced eruptions that blew ash from coast to coast and undoubtedly changed climate for years afterward. The famous geysers and hot springs of Yellowstone exist because hot magma still resides under the area. Recent uplift and earthquake swarms seem to suggest renewed volcanic activity—but is that really what’s going on? Volcanologist Dr. Cheryl Gansecki has conducted research on the Yellowstone volcanic system, and on volcanoes in Hawai`i and Greece. Tonight she shares the history of this fascinating “supervolcano” and delves deeper into what is happening now at Yellowstone. $3; Museum members free.

Explosive Eruptions at Kīlauea: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Monday, February 27, 7:00-8:30 p.m. Most people are surprised to learn that Kīlauea is a violent volcano, yet the number of known fatalities from explosive eruptions at Kīlauea is greater than at any other volcano in the United States. In fact, Kīlauea erupts explosively about as often as does Mount St. Helens; the eruptions are generally smaller, but the impact could be significant, given that 5000 people visit the top of the volcano each day. Between 1500 and 1800 C.E., explosive eruptions from Kīlauea entered the jet stream at least three times, depositing ash in lower Puna. Future such eruptions could even endanger air traffic to and from the mainland. This evening, Dr. Don Swanson, USGS senior geologist and former Scientist-in-Charge at the HVO, describes this volcano’s explosive past and its implications for the future in the context of recent findings that, for the past 2500 years, Kilauea has been in a potentially explosive mode more than half the time. $3; Museum members free.

		Agricultural Tours

Many of us realize that our island produces only 10 to 15 percent of its food, meaning we rely on vulnerable transportation systems and are only a few days away from empty grocery store shelves should something go wrong. Could Hawai`i Island be self-sufficient in terms of food? Lyman Museum presents a series of five excursions to our island’s agricultural sites that explores Hawaii Island’s agricultural promise. The first of five monthly van tours, “The Garden as Provider—Puna,” is on Saturday, February 4 (sign up date is February 1). Observe UH-Hilo students’ research projects as they work to improve animals and crops grown here. Visit an organic farm practicing the methods of Master Cho, who teaches an age-old Korean cultural growing method internationally. Learn about Hawaii’s papaya industry and the GMO issue. See tea and coffee growing, and enjoy sampling those beverages grown on our own island. Other tours are, “The Garden as Provider—Hamakua,” (March 17), “The Garden as Teacher” (April 14), “The Garden as Healer” (May 19), and “The Garden as Paradise” (June 16). Each daylong (8:30 a.m.—3:00 p.m.) tour provides transportation, entry to activities, and product sampling. Most excursions provide lunch, and all tickets include same-day admission to Lyman Museum following the excursion. Cost is $75 per excursion ($65 for Lyman Museum members). To register, contact Lyman Museum at 935-5021. Anthropologists Dr. Judith Kirkendall and Leslie Lang will lead the excursions. Kirkendall’s field is the anthropology of food and Lang, author of Exploring Historic Hilo, specializes in the anthropology of Hawaii and the Pacific.

		Mission House

The Lyman Museum began in the Lyman Mission House, originally built in 1839 for New England missionaries David and Sarah Lyman. Nearly 100 eventful years later, in 1931, the museum was established by their descendants. Today the Mission House has been restored and is on the State and National Registers of Historic Places. The sitting-room, where the Lyman family would gather in evenings for reading and prayer. Attic of the Lyman Mission House, built in 1856. The original (1839) `ohia roof beams are evident along with the Douglas fir beams that changed the roof line for the 1856 zinc roof. Visitors share their Lyman Museum stories on TripAdvisor.