Historian Nanette Napoleon to be Lauded with Individual Achievement Award

Since the mid-1980s, Nanette Napoleon has led an effort to preserve Hawai‘i’s historic burial grounds. Her family’s appreciation of their native Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Tahitian, and European roots drew her to the last vestiges of people of the 19th and early 20th centuries and the stories their final resting places tell. Through study and practice, Nanette focuses on educating the community and policy makers on the importance of saving Hawai‘i’s historic burial sites and ways to preserve them.

She has broadly shared what she has learned — through books, journals, newspaper and magazine articles, television news and public interest appearances, walking tours, dramatic programs, and one-on-one advice. Bestowing her with the moniker “Hawai‘i’s Cemetery Lady,” folks in the community frequently seek her out to help locate and preserve grave sites of family ancestors. She is also consulted on the appropriate means of conserving markers and burial sites and the information they contain.

Beginning in the early 1980s, Nanette organized the Hawai‘i Cemetery Research Project to research, inventory, document and restore historic burial grounds and provide educational outreach. To date, the project has documented historic cemeteries on O‘ahu, Maui, Moloka‘i, and Lāna‘i, including O‘ahu Cemetery, Mō‘ili‘ili Japanese Cemetery, Pauoa Hawaiian Cemetery, Sunset Memorial Park, Kalaupapa and several others. With volunteer researchers and fieldworkers, and in collaboration with specific project partners, Nanette has continued work to repair damaged headstones and cemetery sites, and to assist concerned family relatives to organize and advocate for preservation of the cemeteries where their ancestors are laid to rest.

Through the project, Nanette collaborated with the Hawai‘i Civil War Roundtable to preserve the memory of men from Hawai‘i who served in the U.S. Civil War. Together they completed all the legwork to install a bronze memorial plaque dedicated to the Hawai‘i Sons of the Civil War, located along the Memorial Walk at the National Cemetery of the Pacific (Puowaina). They also collaborated to procure and install a tombstone for J. R. Kealoha, a Native Hawaiian who served in the U.S. Colored Troops during the war and survived. Kealoha was buried in O‘ahu Cemetery without a tombstone. A large tombstone dedication ceremony was held at the cemetery, attended by the Royal Order of Kamehameha, Hawai‘i Civil War Round Table, and other members of the public. Nanette served as emcee for the event.

Another collaborative effort and career highlight are the unique historical tours Nanette has been instrumental in creating. Pūpū Theatre at O‘ahu Cemetery, a walking tour at Mauna ‘Ala, the Royal Mausoleum, and a musical commemoration in observance of O‘ahu Cemetery’s 175^th Anniversary are some of the public engagements that would not have been possible without Nanette’s passion, knowledge and community-mindedness.

As a pioneer of cemetery preservation across the Hawaiian Islands for 35 years, Nanette will be recognized with an Individual Achievement Award for her significant contributions to the restoration, research and documentation, protection and awareness of Hawai‘i’s historic burial grounds.

The Individual Achievement Preservation Award recognizes leaders in the preservation field who have engaged in advocacy, educational, programmatic or other activity supporting preservation efforts, either for a specific place significant to the history of Hawai‘i or through a broad-based program.

By Phil Deters, retired attorney and member of the Awards Selection Committee
May 28, 2020

MORE READING: In 2016, Nanette Napoleon spoke to us about the importance of historic preservation and her hope for future generations.[In her own words]

The 46th Annual Preservation Honor Awards Ceremony will be held as a virtual livestream event on July 22, 2020 at 5:00 PM.  Refer to historichawaii.org for an upcoming announcement.