Blog

Prior to the shutdown resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, Iolani Palace received a steady stream of admission income from the various tours it offered almost daily.  Its docent-led tours hosted 20 guests at a time; during the partial reopening, tours had up to 5 guests. Today, that income is no longer available and the Palace has accrued over $1,000,000 in losses since the state shutdown. Expenses have been cut; 19 hourly staff have been terminated; the minimal staff retained to manage and maintain the property are furloughed one day a week. In spite of these measures, the Palace incurs daily revenue losses estimated at $7,700 a day.  More than half of the expenses are to keep the Palace interior at a controlled temperature as well as to keep the property secure. Under these conditions, Paula Akana, who was appointed executive director of the Friends of Iolani Palace in May 2019, projects the next fiscal year to result in losses between $500,000-$700,000. After a long career as a newscaster, Akana is a familiar face who brings new perspectives on leadership and organizational change. By phone this week, Akana shared her areas of focus and other insights. A summary of the Palace's historical significance can be found on the Friends of Iolani Palace's website. Once she started meeting with state legislators to inquire about the possibility of state funding, she encountered a basic lack of awareness of the Palace as a state property and a perplexing apathy about its care.  A member of the Friends voiced her frustration, remarking, “The Palace is a property of the State, yet not funded by it!” Akana concedes that until now the Friends had made limited requests for government [...]

  Sometimes things are just meant to be!  For sometime, HHF has been actively seeking to initiate meaningful opportunities and experiences for young people, especially in the area of internships. Our goal: to educate youth (specifically high school and college level students) about historic preservation practices, introduce them to significant historic sites and share the diversity of potential careers in the field. We received special grant funding and were on track to develop a full summer internship for winter and/or summer of 2021--then the pandemic hit. As we were thinking about how best to move forward, I received a very interesting email from a young woman named Nayun Hong. I am a third-year architecture student at the University of Notre Dame I had the wonderful opportunity to study abroad in Rome, Italy, focusing on the study of classical architecture and history until my program was suspended due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Fortunately, I was able to return home to Honolulu before Italy began their lockdown. From the seven months I spent in Europe, I saw, sketched, and learned about the architecture of different regions and cities. I was captivated by the organic beauty of so many historic buildings and this cultivated my interest in the preservation of historic architecture. After graduation, I would like to become an architect that not only designs new projects, but also works to restore and preserve the elegance of existing structures. The featured projects in my portfolio were hand-drafted with some initial work on Adobe Photoshop, AutoCAD, and Google SketchUp.   "What an amazing coincidence," I thought and was impressed with the examples she shared of her hand-drafted renderings from her studies in Europe. Here are a few of [...]

122 people responded to our Virtual Engagement Survey, thoughtfully sharing their concerns about specific historic and archaeological resources, along with valuable feedback for future programming.  We have set out to incorporate the feedback into some upcoming engagement and look forward to the results. Please click on the image below to see a summary of the responses in slide format. We thank everyone who participated and for your support of our shared purpose. Please enjoy this virtual mini-tour around the Islands of places identified in the survey as favorites or places of concern. By Beth Iwata, Director of Development

Hui No‘eau Visual Arts Center is located on the beautiful estate of Harry and Ethel Baldwin, also known as Kaluanui, along Baldwin Avenue near the town of Makawao.  The main complex rests within a semi-formal landscaped setting extensively planted with indigenous and exotic plants and trees.  The residence, designed by architect C. W. Dickey in 1916, is one of the few early California Mission-style residential buildings remaining in Hawai‘i and is listed on the State Register of Historic Places. Today, the Arts Center serves as an excellent example of how preservation and adaptive reuse can transform an existing property into a beloved community resource.  Historic Hawai‘i Foundation was able to assist with this process, facilitating grant funding in 2015 to complete the renovation of the historic garage into the Print Studio.  In addition to the cleaning, repair and repainting of the structure, the grant enabled the removal of hazardous materials from the Studio and the adoption of proper waste disposal practices. The renovation ushered in a new series of screen printing classes for teens and adults to boost the Print Studio's existing repertoire.  The Studio has served over 800 youth, 100 adult students and 300 community artists since its inception.  Classes range from intaglio, woodcut, collagraphy, monotype printing and more, enhancing the diverse array of art produced by the Maui community. At left, the Print Studio in 2015, before renovation. On right, the renovated Print Studio in 2016. In addition to its wonderful art classes, the Hui actively promotes the value of preservation through guided and self-guided walking tours of its historic campus. "There is so much to be gained by creative use of historic sites without tearing down existing buildings...Housing our art [...]

  Note from Historic Hawai‘i Foundation: Heather Leilani Kekahuna moved to Hawai‘i in 2018 to continue her studies and explore her ancestral roots. She came to volunteer with HHF through Poʻi Nā Nalu, Honolulu Community College's oldest Native Hawaiian-serving program. When we were looking for a student volunteer to serve as a docent at our Dillingham Ranch Historic Open House event in May of 2019, we were hoping to find someone interested to research and share Hawaiian history and mo‘olelo of the site. Heather answered the call.     “Maika‘i ka hana o ka lima, ‘ono no ka a‘i a kawaha!          When the hands do good work, the mouth eats good food!       (ʻŌlelo aʻo mai kupuna Daniel Kaōpūiki Sr.)   My name is Heather Leilani Kekahuna. I was born in Southern California and returned to school in 2016 at the College of the Desert in Palm Desert to pursue my passion for history. After being introduced to anthropology, I changed my major to anthropology with a minor in history. I moved to Hawai‘i in 2018 to further my education in the place where my kūpuna lived. I’ve always felt disconnected from my identity and wanted to learn more about where my kūpuna came from. Attending Honolulu Community College through the Hulilikekukui Native Hawaiian Center I had the opportunity to participate in a summer internship program in Ke’ei and Honaunau on Hawai‘i Island where I completed the WAHI Kūpuna Internship Program in 2018.  In the spring of 2019 I researched the Waialua Ahupua‘a and told mo‘olelo as a volunteer docent at Historic Hawai‘i Foundation’s Dillingham Ranch Historic Home Open House event. After graduating from HCC with an associate’s degree, I transferred to the University of Hawai‘i [...]

The annual summary of activities and finances for 2019 is now available as a downloadable pdf. We're pleased to share the activities and community impact that is made possible with the support of our grant partners, members, sponsors and volunteers.  Together, let's continue to preserve places that nurture and enrich us. "As I enter my sixth year of service on the Board of Trustees, I continue to find inspiration in the pledge of Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation’s mission statement, “To keep alive and intact for the enrichment of present and future generations the inherent beauty of the Hawaiian Islands and its unique historic role in the development of the Pacific Basin.” Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation has enhanced my awareness of the cultural and historical significance of many places in our islands that I previously took for granted or never noticed.  More importantly, I now understand the need to protect and preserve these places so I may enjoy them with my children, and they with their children. Continuing this thread is essential to our heritage." - Ricky Ching, HHF President of the Board of Trustees. 2020-2021  

We'd like to hear from you! Thanks to the support of our members, sponsors and grantors, Historic Hawaii Foundation has been able to transition its preservation advocacy and consultation work remotely with minimal disruption.  We also adapted our programming to remote learning, providing several lectures and presentations online that engaged hundreds of participants around the world. To help us keep our momentum going, please complete a brief online questionnaire on future engagement opportunities at the link below.  It will take only a few minutes to respond.  Your feedback will be greatly appreciated by all of us at HHF. Click here to complete the survey Mahalo for your input! We look forward to continuing to highlight the history and heritage that fulfills us with a deeper bond to our Island home.

The U.S Army is developing a nationwide agreement for the treatment of all historic housing constructed between the two world wars. The “program comment” is an option for an overarching agreement between the Army and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) to address all “maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, renovation, abatement, mothballing, demolition, replacement transfer, sale and lease” of family housing constructed between 1919-1940. Army has identified some 2700 total historic housing units on 35 installations across the country. Hawai‘i has the second-highest number of units with 386, following only Ft. Benning, GA with 492. Historic housing areas include Wheeler Army Airfield’s housing district that follows the Garden City design plan with Mission-style houses and the craftsman-style houses in the Canby neighborhood at Schofield Barracks. The program comment will not apply to National Historic Landmarks, such as the Palm Circle NHL at Fort Shafter. Army stated that the national agreement is needed as it addresses lead paint and other hazardous materials. The agency also prioritizes addressing inefficiencies that occur from reviewing each project for housing units separately with inconsistencies between installations. To develop the agreement, Army initiated consultation with stakeholders in October 2019 and continues with monthly conference calls on specific issues. Consulting parties include the ACHP, State and Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers and Historic Hawai‘i Foundation. A key provision of the agreement will address design guidelines for rehabilitation and treatment of the historic buildings, especially as Army replaces elements that are contaminated with lead paint. The first draft guidelines garnered 254 individual comments, with HHF submitting some 60 comments (24% of the total) on how the guidelines would apply to Hawaii’s [...]