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| Hawaiʻi Preservation Society | |
|---|---|
| Name | Hawaiʻi Preservation Society |
| Formation | 1920 |
| Headquarters | Honolulu, Hawaiʻi |
| Type | Nonprofit cultural heritage organization |
| Region served | State of Hawaiʻi |
| Leader title | President |
Hawaiʻi Preservation Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving historic sites, cultural landscapes, and architectural heritage across the Hawaiian Islands. Founded in the early 20th century, the Society works with community groups, cultural practitioners, and governmental agencies to protect properties and promote understanding of Native Hawaiian history, missionary-era buildings, and plantation-era sites. Its activities span documentation, restoration, advocacy, and educational outreach tied to landmark places, traditional practices, and legislative measures.
The Society emerged in the context of preservation movements linked to figures such as Lorrin A. Thurston, Queen Liliʻuokalani's legacy, and institutions including the Bishop Museum and the Hawaiʻi State Archives. Early preservation efforts referenced events like the demolition debates over ʻIolani Palace-related properties and campaigns paralleling initiatives by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the American Institute of Architects. During the mid-20th century, collaborations with the Territory of Hawaiʻi agencies, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa faculty, and community leaders influenced preservation legislation later reflected in acts akin to the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. The Society’s archive includes correspondence with architects associated with the Mission Revival and Richardsonian Romanesque influences found in regional structures, and its founders engaged with cultural advocates connected to the Hawaiian Homes Commission and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs precursor dialogues.
The Society’s mission emphasizes protection of sites tied to Native Hawaiian chiefs, missionary families, plantation managers, and immigrant communities from Japan, China, Portugal, and Philippines heritage threads. Activities include historic resource surveys working with the State Historic Preservation Division of Hawaiʻi and the National Park Service programs such as the National Register of Historic Places nominations. It advises on conservation techniques paralleling standards from the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties and engages stakeholders including the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, the Kamehameha Schools, and neighborhood associations on maintenance plans for places like royal mausoleums, missionary houses, and sugar mill remnants.
Notable preservation projects involve structures and sites with connections to figures like King Kamehameha I, Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, and communities around locations such as Lāhainā, Hilo, Kauaʻi, Maui, and Molokaʻi. The Society coordinated restorations reminiscent of work at ʻIolani Palace and conservation plans similar to efforts at the Mission Houses Museum and the Hawaiʻi State Library. Project types include adaptive reuse of plantation-era buildings, stabilization of heiau and wahi kapu with guidance from practitioners associated with Hoʻokahua Cultural Center-style groups, and documentation of vernacular architecture comparable to surveys performed by the Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation. Technical partners have included preservation architects influenced by the practice of firms connected to the AIA Honolulu chapter.
Advocacy campaigns engage elected officials in the Hawaiʻi State Legislature and liaise with municipal planners in City and County of Honolulu and county councils on Maui County and Hawaiʻi County to influence zoning, landmark designation, and sensitive area protections. Educational programming includes lectures featuring scholars from University of Hawaiʻi Press, public tours modeled after those run by the Hawaii Historical Society, and workshops with master practitioners from Hālau Hula and cultural schools tied to lineages of aliʻi and kahuna. The Society has produced materials paralleling interpretive exhibits at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum and participates in statewide events such as Aloha Festivals and heritage month observances honoring diaspora communities from Okinawa, Korea, and Philippine immigrant histories.
Governance follows a board-led model with officers including a president, treasurer, and secretary, operating under bylaws comparable to nonprofit standards used by entities like the National Trust for Historic Preservation and local peers such as the Friends of ʻIolani Palace. Staff and volunteers coordinate with consultants—legal advisors versed in statutes similar to the Hawaiʻi Historic Preservation Act and conservation specialists trained in techniques recognized by ICOMOS and the World Monuments Fund. Advisory councils include cultural practitioners, historians affiliated with the Hawaiʻi State Archives, and architects from firms with ties to preservation projects at sites like the Royal Mausoleum at Mauna ʻAla.
The Society partners with governmental bodies such as the Department of Land and Natural Resources (Hawaiʻi) and the National Endowment for the Humanities-style grant programs, philanthropic organizations like the Kresge Foundation-modeled donors and the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, private foundations associated with families like the descendants of missionary-era benefactors, and corporations engaged in cultural tourism. Funding streams include membership dues, grants similar to those from the National Trust Preservation Funds, fundraising events paralleling benefit galas hosted by the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, and capital campaigns undertaken with estate partners and preservation easement mechanisms like those managed by conservation entities such as the Trust for Public Land.
The Society has contributed to successful landmark nominations to the National Register of Historic Places and influenced protective ordinances comparable to local landmark legislation used in Honolulu and Lāhainā. Achievements include restoration advisories that preserved mission-era chapels, plantation worker housing clusters, and landscape features associated with pre-contact sites, often in coordination with cultural stewards from families connected to legacy chiefs like Kamehameha lineages and advocates in the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation sphere. Programs have increased public engagement through partnerships with museums such as the Hawaii Children's Discovery Center and archives at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library, while awards and recognitions mirror honors granted by the Hawaii Preservation Awards community.
Category:Historic preservation in Hawaiʻi Category:Non-profit organizations based in Honolulu