Department of Accounting and General Services

Henry Enoka Palenapa Kekahuna
1881-1969

Born: Hāna, Maui, August 6, 1881
Died: Honolulu, April 27, 1969
Henry E. P. Kekahuna was a Kanaka ‘Ōiwi (Native Hawaiian) archaeologist, surveyor, historian, and researcher of the mid-20th century whose work documenting Hawaiʻi’s past comprises one of the most significant historical and ethnographic archives of life in Hawaiʻi during the period of ʻŌiwi Wale (Native Only). Kekahuna worked with the anthropologist Kenneth P. Emory for the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum documenting historic sites and creating detailed maps of heiau sites. His maps are particularly valuable for their inclusion of traditional place-names, historical notes, and traditional moʻolelo that add important context to the drawings. His work has been a central resource for modern-day preservation work on numerous sites such as Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau in Kona, Hawaiʻi Island and Kāneioloumu Heiau site at Kōloa, Kauaʻi. Kekahuna also worked with the Hawaiian-language scholar Theodore Kelsey, co-authoring numerous essays and public histories on Wahi Pana (Sacred Sites) throughout the Islands.
Interested in the preservation of knowledge covering all of Kanaka ʻŌiwi life and ways, Kekahuna collected oral histories on a wide-range of topic stretching from “Birds” to “Voyaging.” His collected archive is deposited at both the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum Library and Archives and the Hawaiʻi State Archives.

The records are presented as PDFs that can be downloaded.

Henry Enoka Palenapa Kekahuna
1881-1969

Hānau ʻia ma ka ʻāina ua Lani Haʻahaʻa o Hāna, Maui, ʻAuk. 6, 1881
Hala loa ma ka ʻāina ua Līlīlehua o Pālolo, Honolulu, ʻAp. 27, 1969

ʻO Henry E.P. Kekahuna he kanaka ʻōiwi, mea noiʻi hana lima o ke au i hala, mea ana ʻāina, mea hoʻopaʻa moʻolelo kūpuna a mea noiʻi o ka hapawaena kenekulia 20, ʻo ka hua a kāna palapala ʻana i ka wā kahiko o Hawaiʻi nei he waihona palapala mōʻaukala a moʻomeheu koʻikoʻi o ka wā nohona kānaka ʻōiwi wale nō. Hana ʻo Kekahuna me Kenneth P. Emory, he mea hulikanaka, ma ka Hale Hōʻikeʻike o Kamehameha e palapala ana i nā wahi pana a e kaha ana i nā palapala ʻāina lāliʻi o nā heiau. He waiwai kāna mau palapala ʻāina i nā inoa ʻāina, nā kākaha moʻolelo a me nā moʻolelo kūpuna e hoʻākāka ana i ka pōʻaiapili nui i nā palapala i kaha ʻia. He kumuwaiwai nui kāna hana no kēia au nei ma ka hana e mālama ana i nā wahi pana he nui e like me ka Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau i Kona, Hawaiʻi a me ka heiau ʻo Kāneiolouma i Kōloa, Kauaʻi. Me Theodore Kelsey kekahi, ka mea akeakamai ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, i hana pū ai ʻo Kekahuna e kākau ana i nā pepa hōʻike manaʻo a me nā moʻolelo hōʻike ākea he nui e pili i nā wahi pana o kēia pae ʻāina.

No kona ʻiʻini loa e mālama i ka ʻike kūpuna like ʻole o ka nohona kānaka ʻōiwi i hōʻiliʻili ai ʻo ia i nā moʻolelo ma ka waha e pili ana i nā kumuhana laulā mai “Nā Manu” a i “Ka Holomoananui ʻana.” Ke noho nei kāna mau waihona palapala ma ka Hale Hōʻikeʻike o Kamehameha, a ma ka Hale Waihona Palapala Kahiko o ka Mokuʻāina.

Ua hōʻike ʻia nā palapala ma ke ʻano he mau PDF no ka hoʻoili ʻana.

Mele Selections from the Henry Enoka Palenapa Manuscript Collection
Ref No.	Item Description
M445-1-8	Chants. Mostly place-name chants.
M445-1-9	Chants. Mostly personal name chants.
M445-1-10	Chants. From Mrs. Lilian Maka’ena and N.B. Emerson’s collection.
M445-1-11	Chants. Book of name chants presented to Kalakaua, dated March 14, 1883.
M445-1-12	Chants. Kumilipo notes.
M445-1-13	Chants. Battle of Nuuanu, with notes.
M445-3-51	Hula. Miscellaneous.
M445-3-52	Hula. N.B. Emerson collection.
M445-4-77	Music and songs. Miscellaneous.
M445-4-78	Music and songs. Notes on Aloha Oe.
M445-5-85	Poems.

See also other Archives Month 2021 Exhibitions / E nānā i nā Hōʻikeʻike Malama Akewika 2021 ʻē aʻe:

      [Ref No. M86] Selections from the Theodore Kelsey Manuscript Collection
      [Ref No. KAHN] Mele Selections from the Paul Markham Kahn Collection

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