Dole Family Papers, 1831-1944, bulk 1864-1898

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Summary

Creators:
Dole family.
Abstract:
This collection contains the papers of the Dole family of Hawaii, including transcripts of daily diary entries for family members (covering 1850-1884); family correspondence, documents, and photograph albums. Subjects include daily life, missionary work, church meetings, the Punahou School, and Hawaiian royalty and government.
Extent:
210 items in 4 boxes + 8 volumes
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection is organized in the following manner: 1. Diaries (Box 1); 2. Family Correspondence (Boxes 2-3); 3. Genealogy Information, Photographs, and Ephemera (Box 4); and 4. Photograph Albums and Scrapbooks. The first three series are arranged alphabetically by author; the photograph albums and scrapbooks are arranged chronologically.

The Diaries series contains 22 diary transcripts of daily diary entries by Charlotte Close Knapp Dole, George H. Dole and Clara Rowell Dole (covering 1850-1884). Charlotte Dole’s diary talks about her husband’s work as a missionary, other missionaries, church meetings, the Punahou School, and Hawaiian royalty. George H. Dole’s diaries include a trip to the United States in 1864-1865, as well as details about his work on several sugar and rice plantations including crop numbers, Chinese workers, effects of weather, etc., and events taking place in Hawaii.

The Family Correspondence series contains 128 pieces of correspondence, the majority of which are written by Clara Rowell Dole to her husband, George, her sons, Walter and Herbert, and brother-in-law, Sanford B. Dole. Most of these letters were written from her home in Kapaa, Kauai, while her husband was away and her children were attending Oahu College (Punahou School). She talks about her daily activities, the school, her children, an outbreak of measles, the Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese workers, and some about Hawaiian royalty and government. There are five letters written by Sanford B. Dole, three to his brother George and two to his nephew Walter, and he is the addressee of nine letters. The rest of the correspondence includes letters by Clara and George’s children and family and friends. The majority of these letters written by their eldest son, Walter, are from his time at Cornell University.

Details about ship arrivals and departures are included in both the diaries and correspondence series.

The Genealogy Information, Photographs and Ephemera series includes legal documents including last will and testaments, some letters, genealogical charts, and manuscripts regarding the Dole, Rowell, Noyes, and Thurston families as well as photographs and ephemera. There are also several documents and letters regarding the estate of Sanford B. Dole and the distribution of his estate to family members. There are four photographs: two of William Rowell, one of Sanford B. Dole, and one of several Dole family members taken in 1899. The ephemera includes some genealogical items (family trees) as well as two copies of newspapers, from San Francisco and Los Angeles, featuring articles about Sanford B. Dole as President of Hawaii and Hawaii becoming a Territory of the United States (1898).

There are three photograph albums and five scrapbooks, the majority of which belonged to Walter Dole. These deal with the Dole family in Hawaii including photographs of the family and scenes in Hawaii; there is also material about the Dole family while they were living in Riverside, California. There are many articles about Hawaiian politics, the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani and the Hawaiian royalty, and Sanford B. Dole. Much of the photograph album and scrapbook contents deal with George and Clara Dole’s sons’ sports careers with Cornell University and Stanford University (football and track). There are also a few articles about James D. Dole, of Dole pineapple fame, and a cousin of the family.

Biographical / historical:

Sanford Ballard Dole was born in Punahou, Hawaii, in 1844 two years after his brother George. Their parents, Daniel and Emily Dole, came to Hawaii from Maine as missionaries in 1841. The Doles first lived in Punahou, where they opened a school for children. Emily Dole died days after giving birth to Sanford and two years later, in 1846, Daniel married Charlotte Close Knapp, a fellow missionary in Hawaii. In 1855 the Dole family moved to the island of Kauai and opened a school in Koloa, which Sanford attended. Dole attended Punahou school for one year, and then Williams College in 1866–1867. He worked in a law office in Boston for another year and moved back to Hawaii in 1868 where he practiced law. In 1873, Dole was appointed Commissioner of Private Ways and Water for the district of Kona. Also in 1873, Sanford married Anna Prentice Cate; they had no children but in 1879, they adopted a native 13-year old girl named Lizzie Napoleon.

Sanford won the 1884 and 1886 elections to the Hawaiian legislature as a representative from Kauai. King Kalakaua appointed Dole a justice of the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Hawaii on December 28, 1887, and to a commission to revise judiciary laws on January 24, 1888. After Kalakaua's death, his sister Queen Liliuokalani appointed him to her Privy Council on August 31, 1891.

After the overthrow of the Hawaiian Queen in 1893, Dole was named president of the Provisional Government of Hawaii and in 1894, after a constitutional convention was held, became president of the Republic of Hawaii. After the United States government decided to annex Hawaii, Sanford was appointed governor of the territory by President McKinley in June 1900. He resigned that position in 1903 to accept an appointment by President Roosevelt to presiding Judge of the Federal District Court of Hawaii. He held that position until 1915. Sanford Ballard Dole died in 1926.

His brother, George, married Clara Rowell in 1867, and began working on several sugar plantations. They had thirteen children including Walter Dole and Herbert Dole. The family moved to Riverside, California, in 1889. George H. Dole died in California in 1912.

Acquisition information:
Purchased from Pacific Book Auction Galleries, Sale 454, lot 85, May 19, 2011.
Processing information:

1. Sanford B. Dole is not indexed as a subject as he is a subject of the majority of the collection. He is the addressee of nine letters, which are listed in Indexing: Added Entries. He is the author of five letters. Other subjects that are not specifically indexed, due to the amount of material dealing with them include: Queen Liliuokalani, the Hawaiian government, the overthrow of 1893, annexation by the U.S., etc.

2. The originals of the diaries are at the Mission Houses Museum Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Arrangement:

The collection is organized in the following manner: 1. Diaries (Box 1); 2. Family Correspondence (Boxes 2-3); Genealogy Information, Photographs, and Ephemera (Box 4); 4. Photograph Albums and Scrapbooks.

Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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