author
Hawaii. Department of Foreign Affairs
More than a single writer, this was a government department of the former Kingdom and later Republic of Hawaii, publishing works that promoted the islands to lawmakers, investors, and readers abroad. Its surviving books offer a vivid window into Hawaii’s diplomacy, economy, and political priorities in the nineteenth century.
1 Audiobook
The Hawaiian Islands Their Resources, Agricultural, Commercial and Financial
by Hawaii. Department of Foreign Affairs
About the author
Hawaii’s Department of Foreign Affairs was a corporate author rather than an individual person. Library and catalog records credit the department with official publications such as The Hawaiian Islands: Their Resources, Agricultural, Commercial and Financial and a long run of Report of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, showing its role in presenting Hawaii’s interests in print.
These publications were part of the government machinery of the Hawaiian Kingdom and, later, the Republic of Hawaii. Surviving catalog notes indicate that the office of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs was established in 1843, and that the office of Minister of Foreign Affairs ended when Hawaii was organized as a U.S. territory in 1900.
For modern listeners and readers, works issued under this name are valuable less as personal memoir and more as historical documents. They capture how Hawaiian officials described the islands’ resources, trade, immigration policies, and international position during a period of major political and economic change.