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Robert Crichton Wyllie, Minister of Foreign Affairs, 1845-1865, was the first government official to recognize the need to preserve the government’s records. His efforts lead to the passing of a resolution in 1847 ordering all the Chiefs to collect any papers and letters they may possess, pertaining to the government and to the Chiefs, and send them in to the minister of foreign affairs for examination. These records today form the nucleus of the collection in the Public Archives.

Various actions, including legislative appropriations, were attempted to provide for the arrangement and preservation of government records. After Hawaii became a Territory of the United States, there was a concern that Federal officials would transfer Hawaiian government records to Washington D.C., so the territorial legislature appropriated funds for a dedicated archives building in 1903.

In 1905, Governor George R. Carter urged the legislature to consider the problem of caring for the public archives. Act 24 was enacted creating the Board of Commissioner of Public Archives for the Territory of Hawaii. Appointed by the Governor, with Senate approval, the three-member board served without pay.

Under the Board, two archives buildings were built, in 1906 (now named the Kanaina building and commonly referred to as the "old archives building"), and in 1953 (now the State Archives and named the Kekauluohi building). The State Reorganization Act of 1959 abolished the Board of Commissioners and placed the Archives in the Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS) under the State Comptroller.

There were only five archivists during the Board's 54 year existence, 1905-1959.
The archivists were:
-Robert Colfax Lydecker (1905-1924)
-Albert Pierce Taylor (1924-1931)
-Charles Edward Hogue (1931, 3 months)
-Stella Maude Jones (1931-1955)
-Agnes Catherine Conrad (1955-1959; who became State Archivist 1960-1982).

Article 95 of the Constitution of the Republic of Hawaii merged Crown Lands and Government Lands to create Public Lands. The Land Act of 1895 created a board of commissioners of public lands to control and manage the newly created public lands.

The duties of the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands were assumed by the Commissioner of Public Lands as provided for in section 73 of the Hawaiian Organic Act of 1900.

The Board of Commissioners to Quiet Land Titles was authorized by the second act of Kamehameha III, passed by the Hawaiian Legislature on December 10, 1845. On February 6, 1846, the Minister of the Interior in Privy Council appointed and commissioned five members to the Land Commission. On August 20, 1846, the board issued the "Principles Adopted by the Board of Commissioners to Quiet Land Titles in their Adjudication of Claims Presented to Them." The Principles were approved by the Legislature by resolution on October 26, 1846.

The Land Commission dissolved on March 31, 1855. The function of issuing patents upon confirmation of land commission passed on to the following Hawaiian government agencies: Minister of the Interior. Board of Commissioners of Public Lands, Commissioner of Public Lands, and the Land Management Division upon approval by the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

The Board of Cosmetology was formerly known as the Board of Beauty Culture and was established on July 5, 1929.

The Board of Dental Examiners was established on December 19, 1892.

Originally, records of shipping and harbor affairs, dating from 1842, were kept by the Harbormaster under the Ministry of the Interior, and later by the Collector General of Customs under the Ministry of Finance. With the establishment of the Territory through the Organic Act of 1900, the duties relating to "streets and highways, harbor improvements, wharves, landings, waterworks, etc." passed to the Superintendent of Public Works.

On July 1, 1911, Act 163 transferred all the functions of the Superintendent of Public Works dealing with the ports and harbors to an independent Board of Harbor Commissioners "to control and manage the harbors, ports, docks, wharves and shipping throughout the Territory." It consisted of five members, the Chairman (who acted as Chief Engineer) being the Superintendent of Public Works, and the other four appointed by the governor. In 1951, Act 22 amended this to seven members, the Chairman again being the Superintendent of Public works.

When Hawaii attained statehood in 1959, the resultant reordering of the government placed the Board of Harbor Commissioners under the Department of Transportation. The composition of the Board remained the same with the exception that the Director of Transportation then became its Chairman.

On July 1, 1961, the Board of Harbor Commissioners was abolished and in its place the Department of Transportation organized a Commission on Transportation, consisting originally of nine members and later eleven members, to advise the Director of Transportation on pertinent matters.

Harbormasters: Honolulu Harbor
1820 - 1841 Alexander Adams
1841 - December 31, 1842 Stephen Reynolds
January 1, 1843 - August 19, 1846 William Paty
September 4, 1846 - January 20, 1849 D. P. Penhallow
January 22 - July 5, 1849 James Smith
July 6, 1849 - March 1853 Joseph Maughan
September 30, 1853 - October 7, 1862 H.J.H. Holdsworth
October 8, 1862 - December 31, 1873 John Meek
January 1, 1874 - September 11, 1879 Daniel Smith
September 11, 1879 - March 1909 Andrew Fuller
March 1909 - (d. Mar. 1911) William A. Clark
to October 1911 A.N. Tripp
to 1931 W.R. Foster
1932 - 1941 James L. Friel
1941 - 1945 Frank K. Unterman (Acting)
1945 - 1950 or 51 James L. Friel
195 - A.W.P. Jensen

The Board of Health, 1851-1959, was established on May 8, 1851 by an act of the 1851 Legislature to serve as the policy-making authority for public health measures in Hawaii. The board’s function was to make rules and regulations relating to the prevention and treatment of the causes and conditions of malignant disease and other danger to public health.

Institutionalized care for juvenile delinquents was begun during the monarchy when legislative action in 1850 provided for the.placement of "vicious children" in foster homes. In 1864 the legislative assembly voted to authorize the Board of Education to establish an industrial and reformatory school for neglected children and for the "reformation of juvenile offenders." Six thousand dollars was appro­priated for the establishment and maintenance of an industrial and reformatory school which was placed under the supervision of the Board of Education. In 1866 Keoneula Reformatory School, located in Kapalama, had fifteen boys and six girls. Due to a lack of funds, the girls school was discontinued in 1870. In a report in 1900, the superintendent of public instruction recommended that the boys school be relocated at Waialee and the Kapalama site be used for a girls school. In 1901 the legislature appropriated funds for the construction of the school, which was occupied in 1903. In 1904 the girls school was opened at the abandoned site, and was later moved to Moiliili.

Due to community pressure, the legislature in 1915 passed Act 81 which vested the management and control of all public industrial and reformatory schools in the Board of Industrial Schools. Effective January 1, 1916, the Board assumed all the powers and duties of the Department of Public Instruction with regard to the opera­tion of the industrial schools and detention homes. The Board consisted of seven members, three of whom were women; the Judge of the Juvenile Court of the First Circuit served as an ex officio member. They were appointed by the governor for a four-year term and served without compensation. The first members of the Board of Industrial Schools were Dr. Charles B. Cooper, chairman, Mrs. F.W. MacFarlane, Miss Bertha B. Taylor, Father H. Valentin, Judge W.L. Whitney, ex officio, Mrs. F.W. Klebahn, and Charles G. Heiser, Jr. In practice, the Board met in a body at least twice a month for detailed study with the superintendents of the schools, discuss­ing problems and budgets. They planned the policy of the schools, approved and signed all disbursements, passed on all parole matters, and made frequent visits to the schools.

In order to handle the finances of the Board, an executive secretary was hired. Conducting the business of the Board from the office in the Armory Building, F. Lang Akana served as the first executive secretary. In that capacity he also acted as the parole officer. In 1939 the executive secretary was given the title of chief parole officer.

Plagued by overcrowded conditions and a close proximity to urban conditions, a new site for the girls home was sought. By the Loan Act Fund (Act 266) of 1925-1927 appropriations were made for the construction of a new plant at Kawailoa in Koolaupoko. The schools was opened as the Maunawili Industrial Schools for Girls in 1929.

By Act 186, enacted in 1929, the industrial schools were formally known as Maunawili Training School for Girls and Waialee Training School for Boys. In 1931 the name of Maunawili Training School for Girls was changed to Kawailoa Training Schools for Girls.

During the session of the Twentieth Legislature in 1939 the Department of Institutions was created by Act 203, and jurisdiction over the Kawailoa Training School for Girls and Waialee Training School for Boys was transferred from the Board of Industrial Schools to the newly created department. The Board of Indus- trial Schools was abolished, and the director of the Department of Institutions assumed the powers formerly exercised by the Board.