Polynesian (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii)
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
917 issues from 1844 to 1863, published in Honolulu, Hawaii, digitised for Chronicling America.
The four-to-eight page Polynesian was published weekly in Honolulu in English and some Hawaiian from June 6, 1840 to December 11, 1841 (first series), and again from May 18, 1844 to February 6, 1864 (second series). James Jackson Jarves ran the first series with a combination of mission support, advertising, and subscriptions. However, the paper was not profitable, and he shut it down after only two and a half years. Jarves reestablished the paper under the same title in May 1844. Two months later, the Polynesian became the “Official Journal of the Hawaiian Government” and remained so until 1861, with Charles E. Hitchcock, Edwin O. Hall, Charles G. Hopkins, and Abraham Fornander as subsequent editors. The Polynesian was the leading paper on O’ahu in the mid-1800s.
A commercial enterprise aimed at Honolulu’s foreign (mostly American) residents, the Polynesian’s first series held “Pro bono publico” (for the public good) as its first principle and claimed to be open to all opinions–as long as they were of “an elevated character, avoiding scurrility . . . or any thing [sic] tending to excite without improving the community.” The paper was among the first in the islands to feature puff pieces, which were essentially free advertisements posing as articles and promoting products or industries featured in adjoining paid advertisements.
In 1844, Jarves revived the Polynesian with the hope of building it into a financially viable enterprise. In the first issue of this second…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
- Collection
- Chronicling America
- Licence or status
- None stated by the archive
- Rights
- The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety.
- Credit
- Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities
- Who can read it
- Teens profiles and older (placed by Invisible Network from what the archive says; archives give no ratings)
- Archive
- Library of Congress