Record group - Census Collection

The Department of Education was established in 1840. In that year the Privy Council of the Kingdom instituted a system of universal education in Hawaii under the leadership of a Superintendent of the Whole, later called the Minister of Public Instruction.
In 1855 the office of Minister was replaced by the Board of Education, whose members were appointed by the King, and the department was named the Department of Public Instruction. The Board of Education was headed by a President, who acted as the Board's chief executive officer.
The President and Board administered the system through school agents, who in 1855 were stationed in 24 school districts throughout the Kingdom. The school agents worked semi- independently with the primary responsibility in the districts to hire, pay, transfer and evaluate teachers; and build and maintain the buildings and grounds of the schools. In addition, they conducted the population census and disbursed funds allotted to them by the district tax collectors. The school agents were required to report regularly to the Board on their accomplishments and on their observations of teaching effectiveness and student attendance in the schools. There developed a steady stream of reports and correspondence between the districts and the Board of Education in Honolulu during the nineteenth century.
In 1865 the office of Inspector General of schools was created to improve the quality of instruction. The Inspector- General toured the districts, inspected and supervised, and reported his findings to the Board in Honolulu. Upon authorization of the Board, he examined, certificated, appointed, dismissed, and transferred teachers; modified courses of instruction; and opened or closed schools as the population count dictated.
In 1896, Act 57 provided for a significant reorganization of the educational establishment. The Board of Education, which was subordinate to the Minister of the Interior, and had administered public education since 1855, was replaced by a Department of Public Instruction headed by a Minister, as chief administrative officer, and six commissioners. In 1900, the Organic Act left the department intact, other than renaming the Minister as the Superintendent of Public Instruction and providing that he be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate.
Between 1909 and 1920 the system underwent a series of changes. In 1909 the school agents were replaced by supervising principals; in 1913 the building and maintenance responsibilities of the school agents were transferred out of the department to the counties; and in 1920 the number of school districts was reduced from 24 to 8. The supervising principals reported semi- annually to the Board in detailed statistical reports.
In 1931, by Act 284, the administration of the department was assigned collectively to the Board of Commissioners of Public Instruction, whose number was increased to eight. Concurrently, the Superintendent’s designation as chief administrative officer was deleted and he was made a member of the board, ex-officio.
In 1950, in another reorganization, staff offices were established under the supervision of the Superintendent. Their primary duty was to advise the Superintendent on the appropriate measures for broadening, improving and unifying the curriculum across the Territory-wide system. This included developing programs for newly identified student categories, such as the handicapped, slow learners and the disadvantaged. In the school districts, District Superintendents replaced the supervising principals and assumed the responsibility to implement the new curriculum changes.
This new staff and District Superintendent system created a large volume of studies, evaluations, reports, recommendations and publications flowing between the staff, the Superintendent, and the District Superintendents.
Between 1959 and 1966 other changes were implemented. In 1959, with Statehood, the Department was renamed the Department of Education, and the board was renamed the Board of Education. In 1966 the board was made elective rather than appointive, and was empowered to appoint the Superintendent, whereas previously the Superintendent had been a voting member of the Board. This change created a clear separation of policy-making from the administration of policy.

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.

In 1840, the tax officers were directed to conduct population counts as part of their regular duties. Originally appointed by the King or Premier, later by the Island Governors, and under the general supervision of the Governors, the tax officers were to:

...enumerate the people, male and female, together with the children who pay the yearly tax; and make a separate enumeration of the old men and women and those children who do not pay taxes--let them take a yearly account of the deaths and births, by which it may be ascertained whether the people of the kingdom are really diminishing in numbers or not, and by that means the amount of taxes can be known. An Act to Regulate the Taxes, enacted June 6, 1839, signed by Kamehameha III November 9, 1840.