Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Hale Pa‘i

“Perhaps never since the invention of printing was a printing press employed so extensively as that has been at the Sandwich islands, with so little expense, and so great a certainty that every page of its productions would be read with attention and profit. The language of the islands has been reduced to writing, and in a form so precise, that five vowels and seven consonants, or twelve letters in the whole, represent all the sounds which have yet been discovered in the native tongue. And as each of these letters has a fixed and certain sound, the art of reading, spelling, and writing the language is made far easier than it is with us.”

“On the 7th of January, 1822, a year and eight months from the time of our receiving the governmental permission to enter the field and teach the people, we commenced printing the language in order to give them letters, libraries, and the living oracles in their own tongue, that the nation might read and understand the wonderful works of God.” “Liho-liho was glad to have the chiefs instructed and took 100 copies of the first primer for his friends and attendants. Ka-ahu-manu took 40 for her friends.” Mission Press also printed newspaper, hymnals, schoolbooks, broadsides, fliers, laws, and proclamations. The Mission Presses printed over 113,000,000-sheets of paper in 20-years.

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Timeline Tuesday … 1830s

Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us through the 1830s – death of Ka‘ahumanu, first successful commercial sugar, first English language newspaper and Declaration of Rights. We look at what was happening in Hawai‘i during this time period and what else was happening around the rest of the world.

A Comparative Timeline illustrates the events with images and short phrases. This helps us to get a better context on what was happening in Hawai‘i versus the rest of the world. I prepared these a few years ago for a planning project. (Ultimately, they never got used for the project, but I thought they might be on interest to others.)

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Simon Peter Kalama

Besides the publication of newspapers, pamphlets and books at Lahainaluna Seminary (now Lahainaluna High School,) another important facet of activity off the press was engraving. Simon Peter Kalama was one of the best engravers; he compiled the first map of Hawaiʻi published in Hawaiʻi and executed most of the “views” of the islands’ landscapes.

Working with Dr Gerrit P Judd, Kalama transcribed notes of kahuna lapa‘au that were published in Ka Hae Hawaii in 1858 – 1859 – the best source of information on traditional kahuna lapa‘au (Hawaiian medicine) that exists today. During the Wilkes expedition, on January 16, 1841, Kalama saved Judd from death in the crater of the volcano Kilauea. A few years later, Kalama enjoyed a lucrative career as a surveyor.

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Missionary, Educator … Former Slave

“Here begins the history of things known only to those who have bid the American shores a long adieu….” Betsey Stockton was born into slavery; she was given books and was allowed to attend evening classes at Princeton Theological Seminary and was later freed. She was a missionary to Hawai‘i. “Two weeks after we arrived at the islands, we were sent to this place, which is considered the best part of the whole. The productions are melons, bananas, sweet potatoes, &c. (Lahaina)”

“It was there, as (Betsey said,) that she opened a school for the common people which was certainly the first of the kind in Maui and probably the first in all Hawaii; for at the beginning the missionaries were chiefly engaged in the instructions of the chiefs and their families.” Betsey Stockton set a new direction for education in the Islands. After residing in Hawaii for over two years, Betsey Stockton relocated to Cooperstown, New York.

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Kaname Yonamine

A shy young man, he was Nisei (second generation) born on June 24, 1925, in Olowalu, Maui, where his father Matsusai, an Okinawan, had moved to find work in the sugar cane fields. He is considered one of the greatest athletes to come out of Hawaii.

In 1947, Yonamine signed with the San Francisco 49ers, He was the first Asian-American to play professional football; but his football career was cut short after fracturing his wrist. Later, Wally Yonamine found himself the starting center fielder of Japan’s Yomiuri Giants. In 1957 he received the MVP award; he was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.