Sheldon Dibble

Born in 1809 and dying in 1845, Sheldon Dibble was an American missionary educator who became closely connected with Hawaiʻi during the early decades of the Hawaiian Kingdom. He is especially associated with Lahainaluna Seminary on Maui, where he taught and encouraged the study of Hawaiian history and traditions.

Dibble is best known for urging students to gather oral traditions and historical knowledge at a time when much of that material might otherwise have been lost. His teaching influenced important Hawaiian scholars including Samuel Kamakau, who later became one of Hawaiʻi’s great historians. Dibble also served as secretary of the Royal Hawaiian Historical Society, an early effort to preserve the history of the islands.

He wrote History of the Sandwich Islands, a work that made Hawaiian history more widely available to English-language readers in the 1800s. Although he came as a missionary, his lasting reputation today often rests on his role in encouraging the preservation of Hawaiian historical memory.