It's home to the oldest wood-framed structure in the state. Its library includes among the earliest Bibles written in Hawaiian.

And past members of its governing organization founded important local institutions, including the Honolulu Academy of Arts, the Waikiki Aquarium and Wilcox Memorial Hospital.

More than an oasis nestled in the middle of bustling Downtown Honolulu, Mission Houses Museum is a treasured establishment rich with history. This year marks the centennial of the date the structures that would later become Mission Houses Museum first opened its doors to the public.

Already in 1907, the founding organization, the Hawaiian Mission Children's Society, knew that the stories of and objects related to the missionaries in Hawai'i needed saving.

"This is really why 1907 and our 100 years is so important: That marked the moment when the Hawaiian Mission Children's Society's main task became the preservation of artifacts, documents and our most important gems in our collection, the houses themselves," said Robert Becker, who is president of the society's board.

The Mission Houses Museum connects the story of the American Protestant missionaries and their descendants to the history and culture of Hawai'i.

"We see ourselves as being bigger than just a history museum," Becker emphasized. "We see ourselves as a cultural organization."

Among the events taking place this centennial year is a Magic at Mission Houses Museum family event on Saturday.

The anniversary also serves as a time when museum officials are reflecting on the organization's humble beginnings and its hopes for upcoming generations.

"We reached into our past to find what makes us relevant in the present and for the future," Becker said.

IN THE BEGINNING

In 1820, a group of Protestant missionaries came to Hawai'i from Massachusetts. Their mission would officially end by 1863.

"But in 1852, the children of these missionaries determined that they wanted to form a society to infuse the spirit of missionary work in their generation and also to support young missionaries who wanted to do missionary work in other locations," said Peter Salter, senior resident historian at Mission Houses Museum. The Hawaiian Mission Children's Society was founded.

In 1907, the mission houses that would later make up Mission Houses Museum — the Frame House built in 1821, the Chamberlain House built in 1831 and the current Printing Office structure built in 1841 — were given to Hawaiian Mission Children's Society by member and missionary descendant Charles M. Cooke. A charter of incorporation was granted for the purposes of, among other things, maintaining a museum and library, Salter said.

"In 1907, these houses ... were open to the public for the first time," said Becker, who is a descendant of missionary families, including the Cookes, Baldwins and Alexanders.

In the past century, the museum has evolved into a historic site, a public outreach museum and cultural center.

And while the contributions of the museum to the state have been significant, so have the civic contributions of society members throughout the generations, Becker noted.

Past members of the Hawaiian Mission Children's Society include Charles M. Cooke, who founded the Waikiki Aquarium; his wife, Anna Rice Cooke, who founded the Honolulu Academy of Arts; George N. Wilcox, who helped found Wilcox Memorial Hospital; and Henry M. Whitney, founder of the Pacific Commercial Advertiser, which would become The Honolulu Advertiser.

"We feel as a board (of the society), and I feel as an individual, that giving back to this extraordinary place is very important," Becker said. "We believe citizens of a community should contribute to that community."

SETTING GOALS

Today, Mission Houses Museum promotes language, learning and literacy — "the 3 Ls" — through its collections and programs, Becker said.

"What we see in our community now is the need for contributions in that area by a public institution like our own," Becker said. "The missionaries believed that learning was the key to a very rich life."

David de la Torre, executive director of Mission Houses Museum, shares Becker's vision.

"Our main goal is to have the museum recognized as a major educational and cultural resource in the community," de la Torre said.

History and the humanities haven't received the kind of attention that the arts have received over time, and that has to change, said de la Torre, who came to the Mission Houses in December 2006. He was the former director of the state's Art in Public Places program and the Hawai'i State Art Museum from 2003 to 2006.

"It's time for history- and humanities-related programming to garner its own support," he said. "Especially in Hawai'i, it's important for us to know the past ... and to understand the truth about the past — the good and the bad parts of history — so that we're ... better prepared to deal with the issues that face us as a contemporary society."

In line with a vision of the museum as a gathering place and educational center, emphasis continues on school programs, which bring in students of all ages to experience 19th-century culture, as well as public programs such as walking tours, "talk story" sessions and temporary exhibits.

HIGHLIGHTING THE COLLECTION

The museum's collections include its three historic structures. The library alone has 12,000 holdings, among them a collection of early Bibles written in Hawaiian, and diaries and personal correspondence of the missionaries donated in the 1920s by George Carter, a missionary descendant and former governor of the Territory of Hawai'i.

The historic artifact collection includes more than 3,000 objects given by missionaries and missionary descendants.

"The collection is very diverse in that sense, but I don't think the collection really has been shown very much," de la Torre said. "My philosophy on the temporary or changing exhibition program is to schedule special exhibitions that will be inspired by the museum's permanent collections."

Other goals include updating the museum's Web site with more interactive components that will allow visitors to share their stories, and digitizing the library collections.

Hawaiian Mission Children's Society board members are very interested in the museum becoming a more public entity, Becker added.

Mission Houses Museum "belongs to us on paper, to the Hawaiian Mission Children's Society, but the place itself and the history that it represents so well belongs to the people of Hawai'i," Becker said.