Hawaiian Historical Society

Hawaiian Historical Society The Hawaiian Historical Society is a nonprofit learned society dedicated to the preservation, study, and dissemination of the history of the Hawaiian Islands, including the precontact period, the Hawaiian Kingdom, the Provisional Government, the Republic of Hawaiʻi, and the Territory of Hawaiʻi. Founded in the late nineteenth century, the Society has served as a hub for historians, archivists, genealogists, scholars, and community leaders associated with figures and events such as Kamehameha I, Liliʻuokalani, Sanford B. Dole, the Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, and the ensuing political developments. Its activities intersect with institutions and moments like ʻIolani Palace, Bishop Museum, Kamehameha Schools, the Annexation of Hawaiʻi, and mid‑twentieth century cultural renaissances.

History

The Society was established in 1892 amid debates surrounding the Monarchy of Hawaiʻi, the ʻImiola Church era, and mounting public interest in documenting the legacies of rulers such as Kamehameha III and Kamehameha V. Early members included observers of international treaties such as the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875 and participants in episodes tied to figures like Queen Emma and Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole. During the era of the Provisional Government and the Republic of Hawaiʻi led by Sanford B. Dole, the Society archived materials connected to the Bayonet Constitution, the Blount Report, the Morgan Report, and the annexation movement. Throughout the twentieth century, its stewardship overlapped with preservation campaigns for ʻIolani Palace, collaborations with the Bishop Museum under administrators like Charles Reed Bishop’s successors, and interactions with scholars engaged in Native Hawaiian cultural revival associated with Alfred Wolcott, Mary Kawena Pukui, and Samuel Kamakau. The Society’s continuity persisted through World War II, the Territorial era, the statehood movement culminating in 1959, and the later Hawaiian Renaissance that foregrounded activists such as Eddie Aikau and Isaac Hale beach conservation concerns.

Mission and Activities

The Society’s mission emphasizes collecting documents, artifacts, and oral histories relevant to chiefs, missionaries, kanaka ʻōiwi leaders, immigrant communities tied to sugar plantation labor such as Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Portuguese, and Puerto Rican arrivals, and political figures ranging from Lorrin A. Thurston to Prince Kūhiō. It actively documents landmark episodes including the Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, the Bayonet Constitution, the Annexation of Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, and legal contests like Rice v. Cayetano. The Society convenes lectures and seminars that bring together scholars of Polynesian navigation like Mau Piailug, anthropologists studying ʻAikapu practices, legal historians examining the Apology Resolution and cases related to Native Hawaiian sovereignty, and museum curators who have worked with collections at institutions such as the Bishop Museum, ʻIolani Palace, the National Park Service’s Hawaiian Sites, and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Collections and Publications

Holdings include manuscripts, letters, genealogies (moʻokūʻauhau), maps, photographs, lithographs, and newspapers that document mahiole and ʻahuʻula, missionaries like Hiram Bingham, colonial administrators, and plantation managers associated with the Big Five corporations. The archive preserves materials related to events such as the Mahele of 1848, the Hawaiian Kingdom’s constitutions, the Wilcox Rebellion, and the Kūʻē Petitions. The Society publishes a peer‑reviewed journal that features scholarship on figures like John Papa ʻĪʻī, King Kalākaua, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, and William Owen Smith; monographs on navigators, linguists, and cultural practitioners such as Samuel Kamakau, Emma Nāwahī, and Hoʻokūkū canoe builders; and documentary editions of primary sources connected to the Māhele, missionary diaries, and legislative records of the Hawaiian Kingdom. It also issues bulletins, annotated transcriptions, and exhibition catalogs that have been cited alongside works produced by the Library of Congress, the National Anthropological Archives, and the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives.

Programs and Outreach

The Society organizes regular lecture series, symposia, and conferences that bring together historians, genealogists, museum professionals, and community leaders to discuss topics ranging from precontact voyaging and the voyages of Captain James Cook to twentieth‑century political movements led by Kūʻokoʻa activists. Programs have connected with cultural practitioners involved in hula revival led by mentors such as the Merrie Monarch participants, voyaging institutions like the Polynesian Voyaging Society and Hōkūleʻa crews, and preservation campaigns for sites like Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau and Haleakalā. Educational outreach includes partnerships with Kamehameha Schools, the University of Hawaiʻi system, Hawaiʻi State Archives, and public libraries to support curriculum development, oral history projects with kūpuna, and intern placements for archival training. Collaborative exhibitions have been mounted in conjunction with ʻIolani Palace, Bishop Museum, and other cultural organizations highlighting artifacts tied to Queen Liliʻuokalani’s compositions, the Hawaiian language newspapers such as Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, and genealogical records of aliʻi lineages.

Governance and Membership

Governed by an elected board composed of scholars, archivists, attorneys, genealogists, and community trustees, the Society maintains bylaws that guide stewardship practices and ethical standards when handling cultural patrimony, human remains, and kapu‑sensitive materials. Membership spans life historians, academic researchers from the University of Hawaiʻi, curators from Bishop Museum, ʻIolani Palace stewards, attorneys involved in Native Hawaiian law, and public members including descendants of aliʻi like the Kamehameha and Kalākaua lines. The Society offers tiers of membership, research fellowships, and volunteer opportunities and collaborates with organizations such as the Hawaiian Coalition of Native Hawaiian Organizations, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and national institutions engaged in Pacific Islands studies. Through its governance and membership, the Society continues to facilitate access to primary sources for studies of monarchy-era politics, missionary encounters, plantation labor migrations, and contemporary movements for cultural and political resurgence.

Category:History of Hawaii