Mapping the Territory

RASRL Flyer Final

Mapping the Territory  features material from the Romanzo Adams Social Research Laboratory (RASRL) Collection.  This Collection was named for Romanzo Adams who founded the Department of Sociology and studied race and race relations in the Territory from 1920 to 1942. These maps are community studies and illustrate streets, neighborhood, or towns.  Other maps focus on specific social problems or issues. All the maps, in some way or another, deal with race and ethnic diversity, and all were meant to measure and document how local communities evolved during an important era of social change.

The RASRL Collection is part of  the University Archives and is housed in the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Library.  For more information, email archives@hawaii.edu or call 808-956-6047.

Hale‘iwa, O‘ahu: Two Papers, Three Maps

N.S.’s and E.L.’s papers and maps provide contrasting yet complementary views of Hale‘iwa and changes its inhabitants experienced from the late 1920s until 1940. These documents illustrate how ethnicity and class shaped RASRL writers’ understanding and portrayal of their communities.

Moanalua Gardens, Moanalua ahupua‘a, O‘ahu

“The Moanalua Gardens” is a community study but it is unusual in that it does not focus on a neighborhood or town. Moanalua Gardens is a public park located on private land owned by the Damon family. The Garden, which opened in 1924, is in the ahupua‘a of Moanalua just Ewa of Honolulu. The property was managed by employees of the Damon family and K.N.'s paper describes the community of people who lived there.

Kaimukī, Pālolo ahupua‘a, O‘ahu

The developers of Kaimukī laid out the neighborhoods in neat, equally divided blocks, the numbered avenues running mauka to makai. But the physical features of Pālolo, the stream running down the west side of the district and the mountains and ridges, were natural barriers that could not be made to conform to a system of suburban street grids.

Residential Distribution of Public School Teachers, 1931-32

Race plays an important role in the history of education in Hawai‘i. Who was teaching was as important as what was being taught. Although leaders in education in Hawai‘i were usually progressive in their vision and attitudes, their policies often reflected the benign bigotry and perfunctory privilege that were common at the time.

Juvenile Court Cases, 1942

This map illustrates juvenile crimes that found their way to the courts in 1942, the first year of direct US involvement in World War II. By attempting to retrace the trails that might have led to this map or the paths that simply circulated around it, we learn about the conditions that affected Hawai‘i youth during the war years. We also are able to place juvenile crime in a context larger than just “race and place.”

Pālama and Environs: Transitional Communities in Honolulu

This post offers a close analysis of RASRL papers and maps from 1929 and 1930 that focused on a slum area and transitional space in Honolulu.

Survey of Kahuku as a Plantation Town, Kahuku ahupua‘a, O‘ahu

In many ways, this map was the inspiration for this exhibit. It was found among the community studies papers, a subset of the RASRL Collection . We were drawn to its clarity, its use of color, and small details - the width of the stream, the overlapping lines of the railroad tracks and the streets. The map made us wonder about the writer; the writer made us curious about how it came to be that we were examining the work of a young man who had lived at the beginning of the last century.

Cases from the Venereal Clinic, Honolulu, 1931

The original map is roughly 2-1/2 feet by 4-1/2 feet and, like other maps in the collection, uses color-coding to signify ethnicity. Two things make this map unique in the collection: its use of colored threads to indicate the type of venereal disease – brown for gonorrhea, pink for syphilis – and to designate gender – white threads for females.

Kea‘au Village, Ōla‘a, Kea‘au ahupua‘a, Hawai‘i

Written for an introductory sociology class, C.T.’s paper is an “ecological study” of Kea‘au village, which was commonly known as Ōla'a village. The village is located about eight miles south of Hilo. What makes C.T.’s work exceptional is the number of maps – seven in all – with their keys – and the exquisitely rendered details they provide.

Kahului, Maui, a Railroad Town

"Kahului is a combined village, town and camp under a rather feudal system where business is protected and is within 'themselves' with no big, daring stock enterprises and companies. New stores and better two storied ones are not permitted. Kahului, being a port town and the center of all Maui in transportation facilities should have all its possibilities for expansion into a city. But the controlling and directing minds are in different hands."

Leilehua Lane, ‘Auwaiolimu ahupua‘a, O‘ahu

Leilehua Lane is located in lower Punchbowl. The writer explains the changes the neighborhood had undergone from the late 1920s into the 1930s.

‘A‘ala, Downtown Honolulu

The ‘A’ala history this writer offers is based on what she recalls from her childhood and perhaps what she has learned from her parents.

Kukui‘ula, Kaua‘i

According to the writer, Kukui‘ula is a thriving fishing village and one of the few on Kaua‘i. Located on plantation land, it has about 400 inhabitants of Japanese, Puerto Rican, Filipino, and Portuguese ancestry.

Kaka‘ako, Magoon Block and Marmion Lane, Honolulu

A transition zone, Kaka’ako in the 1930s is a mixture of working class residences, industrial plants, businesses, and warehouses.
Bowing Pau copy

Ka Palapala 1932

Mahalo
University of Hawai‘i Library Archives & Manuscripts: Sherman Seki and Asako Shiba
Preservation Department: Deborah Dunn, Christine Takata, Malia Van Heukelem
Hawaiian & Pacific Collections: Dore Minadotani
Also Joy Emoto, Charise Michelsen, Dainan Skeem, Lynn Davis

Additional researchers
Michael Kirk-Kuwaye for his research on and write up of Ōla‘a Village
Background research by Jesse Otto on Kahuku and Reimi Davidson on Pālama

Moir exhibit design
Erica Calegari

Web design
Greg Kuwaye

UHM Campus Center Graphics
Monica Woolsey