Historic Hawaii Foundation News: Happenings This Week at Kona Historical Society

Hanohano `O Kona-Honoring Kona

A FREE Community Lecture Series in 2012

Presented by Kona Historical Society, in cooperation with the County of Hawai`i, this lecture series is a gift from the Society to the community that has supported it for so long. Free of charge, it is open to all, residents and visitors alike.

Voices from our Past:

Diversity and Independence in Kona's Oral Histories

November 14, 5:30--7:00 p.m.

West Hawai`i Civic Center

Students from Ann Kern's speech communication classes at the University of Hawai`i Center - West Hawai`i will interpret oral histories from Kona Historical Society's Jean Greenwell Archives. Coming alive will be a wide range of individuals interviewed over the years: cattle and sheep ranchers, coffee farmers, merchants and storekeepers, politicians, professionals, teachers and more - all of them endowed with the indomitable, independent spirit that enabled them to survive in Kona's early days. Ann Kern is an H.N. Greenwell Store Museum and Kailua Village Walking Tour interpreter for the Kona Historical Society. In addition to teaching speech classes, she was formerly involved as a stage manager and artistic director in several well-known theaters in California.

KHS Membership Meeting and

Free Engraved at Lahainaluna Book Presentation by Dr. Tom Woods

Thursday, November 15, 5:00--7:00 p.m.

Christ Church Community Center, Kealakekua

Engraving of Kealakekua Bay

After a short membership meeting, Dr. Thomas Woods, Executive Director of the Hawaiian Mission Houses, will join us to present the new book by David Forbes, Engraved at Lahainaluna. Between 1834 and 1844, a remarkable collection of copperplate engravings issued forth from the Lahainaluna Seminary, a school on the island of Maui run by the Hawaiian Mission. Collectively, these engravings--views of the Hawaiian Islands, including towns and rural settlements, portraits, objects of natural history, and original maps and charts--form one of the most important visual records of nineteenth-century Hawai`i before the age of photography.

Although most of the drawings on which the engravings are based were done by members of the Hawaiian Mission, the actual engravings are all the work of young Hawaiians, many of them students at the Lahainaluna Seminary. This is the first study of the entire body of engraved work produced by Hawaiians at Lahainaluna Seminary and includes biographical information on the young engravers. "This work represents the first time that Hawaiian landscapes were rendered by anyone other than explorers and the first time maps were created in the Hawaiian language," says Dr. Woods, "The publication of this exceptional book... emphasizes the collaboration that occurred between Protestant missionaries and Native Hawaiians."

Dr. Woods will be giving a PowerPoint presentation that features selections from the book, with special emphasis on Hawai`i Island engravings. Books will be available for purchase. Refreshments will be served and potluck pupu are always welcome. Not a member? No problem, come anyway--we'd love to meet you!