History at Your Fingertips

Good news for Hawaii history buffs—the entire run of The Hawaiian Journal of History, from 1967 to 2008, is now available online as a free, searchable database. An annual collection of scholarly articles published by the Hawaiian Historical Society, the Journal has long been invaluable for researchers interested in just about any conceivable aspect of life in the Islands. Now it’s become dangerously easy to lose entire afternoons picking through Hawaii’s colorful past.

Read up on everything from the deadly epidemics of 1848 and 1849 (in which more than 10,000 died of measles, whooping cough, dysentery and influenza) to the first successful introduction of coffee to the Islands (30 plants established in Manoa Valley in 1825) to the bustling red-light district that existed in Chinatown during World War II (going rate $2 for locals, $3 for servicemen). Sovereignty, statehood, land issues, the plantation era—it’s all here.

The collection is hosted by the University of Hawaii at Manoa. To start exploring, check it out here.