In 2018, the Hawaiian Historical Society received a grant from the Hawai’i Council of Humanities to increase access to over 500 Hawaiian language books of literary merit and historical importance in our collection by digitizing the Hawaiian language card catalog and incorporating the digitized records into our online public access catalog (OPAC).  Through our OPAC, patrons can search for specific Hawaiian language books and discover new resources in our collection. Our OPAC is free to the public and accessible through our website without restriction.

Our Hawaiian Language Book Collection contains hymnals, religious tracts, government reports, and school texts from mission and government presses dating from 1823. The collection is largely comprised of rare books including the first editions of the Kumulipo (1889), Laieikawai (1863), and Lahainaluna Seminary textbooks of various topics ranging from the humanities to natural sciences. These texts represent perspectives of Native Hawaiians, missionaries, and the government during the earliest years of Hawaiian language literacy. This collection is a valuable humanities resource that helps researchers find materials in Hawaiian language, philosophy, history, education, literature, political science, and natural sciences.

Visit our online public access catalog to search our Hawaiian Language Book Collection.