In the early twentieth century, two pioneers of Pacific ethnography, A. C. (Alfred Cort) Haddon and James Hornell, realized the importance of compiling everything that could still be learned about the remarkable canoes of the Pacific. The fruit of their intensive research, Canoes of Oceania has long been regarded as an encyclopedic source of information for scholars interested in the materials, techniques, forms, and functions of ocean-going vessels throughout the Pacific. Shortly after the Polynesian Voyaging Society was established in 1973, its founders spent many hours in the Bishop Museum Archives as they drew up plans for a replica of a double-hulled voyaging canoe. “There can be little doubt that the Canoes of Oceania trilogy was consulted by the founders of the Polynesian Voyaging Society during those early days, as these volumes were filled with numerous illustrations from early European explorers, detailed drawings of canoe parts, and photographs of museum collections throughout the world,” wrote Professor Patrick V. Kirch