Established in 1931, the Lyman House Memorial Museum, the Lyman Museum or Lyman House, resides in Hilo, Hawaii. Accredited nationally and affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, the Lyman Museum showcases world-class collections and displays focusing on various aspects of Hawaii’s natural history and culture.
Entry to the Lyman Museum requires booking two separate tours: one for the Lyman Museum admission, a self-guided tour, and the other for the Mission House Tour, a guided tour of the Lyman family mission house constructed in 1838. The historic house remains open for guided tours and serves as the oldest surviving wooden-framed structure on the island.
The Lyman Museum frequently presents special exhibitions to share knowledge and offer the community new learning experiences and enjoyment. Previous exhibits have covered a range of topics, including locally focused subjects such as Lei Hulu, which showcases traditional Hawaiian feather work by Lei Hulu of Hilo, and regional exhibits such as Sasana: The Burma Portfolio, which features photographs of the Burmese people and their environment by a prominent Hawai’i-based photographer.
Moreover, the Lyman Museum features two galleries: The Earth Heritage Gallery and the Island Heritage Gallery. The Earth Heritage Gallery offers a glimpse into Hawaii's pre-human past and features acclaimed sea shells and mineral collections. Visitors can view a rare mineral specimen discovered in 1987, named after Orlando Lyman, the great-grandson of David and Sarah Lyman, in the gallery.
Guests to the Earth Heritage Gallery can wander through a lava tube and traverse various island climate zones in the Habitats of Hawaii exhibition. They'll also encounter full-scale models of marine life, including a ten-foot tiger shark native to Hawaiian waters. The gallery also features a unique display featuring the bones of two flightless birds, the Hawaiian Rail, and a flightless goose, both exclusive to Hawaii.
The Island Heritage Gallery invites visitors to discover Hawaii's ethnically diverse landscape through native Hawaiian artifacts and insights into the cultural groups that have shaped the islands' history through immigration and beyond. The renovated gallery presents a multifaceted and multicultural history of the Hawaiian Islands under one roof and is something no other museum in Hawaii provides.
Guests visiting the Island Heritage Gallery learn how Hawaiian people lived, including the tools and other implements they crafted from native materials to farm, fish, build canoes and structures, prepare and serve food, fashion weapons and adornments, and create clothing, coverings, and containers. Central to the gallery is the Kīpuka, an interactive learning space where students may engage in hands-on activities such as Hawaiian kapa and tattoo design, cordage making, mat plaiting, and storytelling through hula, chant, and petroglyphs.
The Island Heritage Gallery also introduces the influences brought by early European explorers, whalers, traders, and missionaries and the impact of Westerners on local concepts of government, land use, economy, and education. Further, the gallery offers guests education on Hawaii's political development from the early class-based society to the Monarchy to Statehood.
The Lyman Museum generally closes for major holidays, such as Memorial Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. However, individuals can visit the museum on weekdays.
