Handling History on an Historic Day

Today is Admission Day in Hawaii.  But it’s not just any anniversary.  Today marks the 50th anniversary (or semicentennial) of Hawaii’s admission as a state.  So whether you are a marginalized Native Hawaiian in your own homeland, a patriotic American, or somewhere in between, it’s an important day.

But that’s not what today’s post is about.  In my possibly misleading title “Handling History on an Historic Day” I want to talk about actually feeling history in my hands.  As you know, my wife and I went to Washington, DC for our honeymoon.  Probably the most significant event for me is one I haven’t mentioned, until now.

While we were there, I looked up, found, and got to hold and handle a copy of An account of the creation of the world according to Hawaiian tradition.  We in Hawaii know it better as the Kumulipo.  You can read a copy online here.  Why was I so ecstatic?  Well, I didn’t handle any copy of the Kumulipo, I got to handle a first edition!  The book was published in 1897, which means it is over 110 years old.  And the best part is the Library of Congress let me actually touch the book! This was no easy feat:  it took two visits, registering for a LOC library card, a lot of researching, registering separately to access the Rare Book Reading Room, and hours of waiting for the library staff to locate the book in the bowels of the library.  And most importantly, it took the approval of not one, not two, but three Library of Congress employees (the Library Assistant, the Head of the Reading Room, and a Librarian/Preservationist)  to allow me to take photos of the book.  So my special thanks go out to the staff of the Rare Book/Special Collections Reading Room for allowing me to take and share these photos of this historic book.

Here’s a view of the cover:

Here’s a close-up of the cover:

Now, here’s an inscription on the inside cover:

And finally, here’s a close-up of the inscription:

In case you can’t read it, it says:

Presented to the

Congressional Library

of the

United States of America

by

Liliuokalani

of

Hawaii

While I doubt Her Majesty wrote that inscription herself, this was still a great find to me!

Mahalo!

***

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Tagged as: Capsun, congress, exbor, Hawaii, Hawaiian, kumulipo, library of congress