Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1849-1855 (Creation)
Level of description
Series
Extent and medium
0.25 linear inches
Context area
Name of creator
Administrative history
In 1846 responsibility for population count shifted to the Department of Public Instruction. This new law went beyond taxation in its scope, charging the Minister of Public Instruction:
...the census so to be taken shall comprise in distinct columns, the inhabitants in each district, between such ages as the privy council shall direct, specifying also the proportional number of each sex, and shall, as far as practicable, indicate their avocations and such other particulars as the privy council shall direct, including an annual bill of mortality, and of the natural increase." Second Act of Kamehameha III, An Act to Organize the Executive Departments of the Hawaiian Islands, 1846.
The early censuses were under the direction of the Minister of Public Instruction and were conducted primarily by school inspectors and schoolteachers with the guidance and assistance of the American missionaries. From 1860 direction was placed under a Superintendent of the Census within the Department of Public Instruction, the Inspector General of Schools or the President of the Board of Education.
In all, the Hawaiian government conducted twelve official censuses. The Department first made efforts to take the census in 1847, 1848 and 1849. However, it was not until 1850 that an officially accepted count was finally made. This was followed by government censuses in 1853, 1860, 1866, 1872, 1878, 1884, 1890 and 1896.
With territorial status, jurisdiction shifted to the United States government and the Islands became part of the U.S. census from 1900 on.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Primarily statistical. Reports of numbers of births, deaths and sometimes marriages for various districts, but mostly for Lahaina, Maui. Includes an 1852 table for all islands compiled from quarterly school reports. Also available on microfilm MFL63.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Arranged chronologically.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
No restrictions
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Uploaded finding aid
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Digitized copy of microfilm MFL63 is available at https://digitalarchives.hawaii.gov/item/ark:70111/h7r
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
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Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Prepared on 1991-11, N. Beckel
Revised on 1992-6, J. Nakamatsu
Revised on 2000-6, G. White
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
Archivist's note
2021-12-13, Carol Kellett: Entered into AtoM