The Bishop Museum is located in Honolulu, Hawaii and its systematic anthropological collections comprise some 170,000 specimens. These are significant to the advancement of knowledge of the natural and cultural history of Hawaii and the Pacific. They constitute a historic baseline for the understanding of Pacific peoples past and present, and this resource is used by scientists around the world, as well as by the local academic community. For the people of Hawaii it offers an important source of information about their cultural backgrounds, and the collections provide documentation of traditions which otherwise would have been lost. To improve storage and access to these materials the Bishop Museum has constructed a new four-story building and will transfer the collections to it. This National Science Foundation grant will provide funds to purchase a compactor storage system. Compactors consist of moveable storage units (carefully designed to minimize damage to materials) which have been widely adopted by museums because they make extremely efficient use of space. Not only will this system safely house the existing Bishop Museum anthropological collection but will also provide room for future growth. This project is important for several reasons. First, it will assist in the preservation of scientifically important and irreplaceable anthropological materials. Secondly, it will facilitate access by both researchers and the interested public.
