Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1896 (Creation)
- 1890 (Creation)
- 1878 (Creation)
- 1866 (Creation)
Level of description
Series
Extent and medium
2.98 linear feet
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
Only a limited number of census returns have survived from the nineteenth century. They are available only for the years 1866, 1878, 1890, and 1896, and no one census is wholly complete.
Contains individual enumeration sheets for households, plantations and schools, which list all persons staying on the premises on a designated night. The information varies in detail from census to census but the basic categories include: sex, age, marital status, citizenship/nationality, race, occupation, and ownership of livestock and real property. In addition to information given on each individual, family relationships may often be deduced from these returns.
For the place names covered by each census, see Appendix.
CENSUS OF 1866. 3 lin. inches.
Primarily Lahaina district, Maui; a few sheets for Kahoolawe; and one for the Hilo-Paukaa area on Hawaii. Individual categories are: name; sex; approximate age; marital status; ownership of land (kuleana); country of birth, foreign parentage or half-caste; number of cattle, sheep and goats; and occupation or profession. The census also contains returns for 28 ships in port. Also available on microfilm MFL64.
CENSUS OF 1878. 7 lin. inches.
Lahaina district, Maui; Hamakua district, Hawaii; and Ewa, Waianae and Waialua districts, Oahu. Individual categories are: name; sex; approximate age; marital status; nationality, i.e. native, half-caste, Chinese, Hawaiian born to foreigners, American, German, French, Portuguese or other; occupation, limited to mechanic, agriculturist, plantation laborer or other; and ownership of land (kuleana). Also available on MFL65.
CENSUS OF 1890. 2 lin. ft.
Hamakua, Hilo, North Kohala and to a more limited extent, South Kohala, South Kona and Puna, Hawaii; small areas of Kauai; parts of Hana and Lahaina on Maui; some returns from Molokai and Lanai; and a few returns from Koolaupoko, Waialua and Waianae, Oahu. Individual categories are: name; actual age; sex; marital status; native, half-caste or Hawaiian born to foreigners; country where born; business or occupation; mother of how many children/how many living; registered voter; whether literate, attending school, name of school and teacher; ownership of land and its assessed value. Also available on microfilm MFL66.
CENSUS OF 1895.
Honolulu only, by person's last name. Original fragile. This Census filed in Series 58 Citizen's Guard Commissions. Recorded in Commissions book. Also available on microfilm MFL62.
CENSUS OF 1896. 1.75 lin. inch.
Limited to a few streets in the Honolulu area of Oahu. Individual categories are: name; actual age; sex; marital status; Hawaiian, part Hawaiian or Hawaiian born to foreigners; length of residence; nationality of father; father's citizenship; business or occupation; mother of how many children/how many living; registered voter; literacy in English, Hawaiian, other languages; whether attend government or private school; religion - Protestant, Catholic, Mormon; ownership of land, house; number of cattle, horses, mules, donkey, oxen, sheep, pigs, goats and milk cows. Also available on microfilm MFL62.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Arranged chronologically, then subdivided geographically by island, district and place.
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 Census Returns microfilms is available at https://digitalarchives.hawaii.gov/browse/parent/ark:70111/0jCk
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
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