LIHU‘E — Though it is not a business in the conventional sense, leaders at the Kaua‘i Museum are grappling with many of the same issues officials with conventional, for-profit businesses might face. Such as increasing their consumer base, diversifying and
LIHU‘E — Though it is not a business in the conventional sense, leaders at the Kaua‘i Museum are grappling with many of the same issues officials with conventional, for-profit businesses might face.
Such as increasing their consumer base, diversifying and marketing their products, maximizing their space, and creating partnerships to help them grow.
“We’ve been in transition lately, and in reviewing our needs, we decided we need a special-events coordinator, because other members were wearing 20 hats,” said museum director Carol Lovell.
Enter Dale Rosenfeld.
Rosenfeld was hired recently as the museum’s special-events coordinator. Her duties include expanding the museum’s public image and coordinating with other staff and volunteers on the popular May Day Lei Contest and the annual Christmas Craft Fair.
Rosenfeld has extensive background in nonprofit, volunteer-project coordination, including organizations such as the Kapaa Rotary, the Kamalani Kai Bridge, the Kauai Humane Society, and the Jewish Community of Kauai.
“We really want people to see this museum as an interactive part of the community rather than ‘dead’ history,” Rosenfeld said.
Rosenfeld sees her biggest challenge as “bringing local people in who have not traditionally been here as much.”
Lovell, who described Rosen-feld’s joining the staff as “wonderful; she allows me to take off five hats,” also said, “in part, people saw the museum as a social club. They thought it was for the elitist. We see this museum as more of a cultural resource for the community.”
Rosenfeld and the museum braintrust already have some events planned to get the concept of the museum’s role to society out to the public.
Upcoming events include the Living Treasures event, Saturday, Aug. 13 that will honor some memorable Kaua‘i residents and their contributions to the island.
Also, the state Archaeology Conference and Cultural Fair will be held at the museum beginning Oct. 6, and ending Oct. 9.
This event came to Kaua‘i instead of Maui largely because of the museum’s ongoing Archeology of Kauai exhibit, Rosenfeld said.
Rosenfeld, who owns the Esprit De Corps Riding Academy, knows the importance of expanding the concept of tourism.
“People talk about ecotourism, but we’re also interested in edutourism. It’s a niche we want to fill. We want people to have fun, but to learn, too,” she said.
Rosenfeld and Lovell also said it is important for leaders at the Kaua‘i Museum to help spread awareness about the other museums and heritage centers on Kaua‘i.
Currently, Rosenfeld is operating both out of her home and the museum, depending upon the job at hand.
Lovell said that, right now, the museum gift shops generates about 33 percent of the museum’s revenue. The plan is to enlarge the gift shop, high-lighting its unique and Kaua‘i-created items, while increasing the museum’s profile in the community. Lovell said this will hopefully lead to self-sufficiency for the museum. She said the museum does not dip into its endowment.
Lovell said that, since the museum cannot physically expand, it must maximize its resources.
Rosenfeld will soon begin taking a video-production course at Ho‘ike Kaua‘i Community Television, Inc., in an effort to one day produce material related to museum efforts.
Rosenfeld is a respected member of the community. She is a member of the Kapaa Business Association, the Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce, the Kaua‘i Visitors Bureau and the Hawaii Ecotourism Association.
Lovell said the museum has 10 employees, five fulltime and five part-time, with a vast list of volunteers.
She said with cuts to the state Department of Education, she can envision the museum filling a void in the public-school system by providing students with learning tools taken right from the museum’s collections.
There are two buildings that house the museum artifacts and exhibits, according to the museum’s Web site:
- Albert Spencer Wilcox Memorial Building
On February 3, 1922, a letter from Mrs. Emma Mahelona Wilcox was delivered to the Board of Trustees of the Kauai Public Library Association, in which she offered to give $75,000 for the erection of a free county library in memory of her husband, Albert Spencer Wilcox. On October of 1922, Hart Wood, one of Hawai‘i’s foremost architects, was selected to design the building, which was officially dedicated on May 24, 1924.
This beautiful old structure sits in the center of historic downtown Lihu‘e, on Rice Street, and has a lava-rock exterior, sloped roof, barrel-vaulted ceilings, original antique light fixtures, and a mezzanine with a balcony overlooking the first floor. Because the Wilcox building was on the National Historic Register, no changes to the historic structure could take place. So, when the building could no longer house its library collection, a new library was built in Lihu‘e in 1969. In 1970, the Albert Spencer Wilcox Memorial Building became a dedicated part of the Kaua‘i Museum.
- The William Hyde Rice Building
In April 1954, a museum committee was formed with Juliet Rice Wichman as the chairperson and Dora Jane Isenberg Cole as a member. Wichman and Cole raised the necessary funds for a new building, adjacent to the Wilcox library, to house the Kaua‘i Museum, and Kenneth Roehrig was selected as the architect.
On December 3, 1960, the Kaua‘i Museum was officially opened to the public, with Wichman as the director and Cole as manager.
This building is a two-story, lava-rock structure that currently houses the history of Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau from the geological and archeological standpoint. It also tells the story of pre-contact and post-contact Hawai‘i, Captain James Cook’s arrival, life in early Kaua‘i villages, artifacts found on the island, such as the poi pounders, fishhooks, receptacles, tapa implements, etc.
The second floor houses an exhibit on early sugar-plantation life and missionary-era furniture, pottery, photographs, books, artwork, quilts, saddles, and World War II memorabilia.
