A photo of Kalaupapa resident Palakiko Kuokala, from Laupahoehoe on the Big Island, taken by Sacred Hearts Father Joseph Julliotte. Palakiko was 8 years old when he was sent to the Kalaupapa Settlement on Nov. 1, 1905. He died there on Dec. 3, 1917. (Photo courtesy of Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, U.S. Province, Archives)
The Hawaii Council for the Humanities has awarded the U.S. Province of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts a $5,000 “preservation and access grant” for a project identifying Kalaupapa residents in a century-old collection of more than 600 photographic glass plate negatives in the religious order’s archives.
Called the Kalaupapa Images Identification Project, the effort also received $2,000 from the Damien and Marianne Foundation, and documentation and photo resource assistance from Ka Ohana O Kalaupapa and IDEA Center for the Voices of Humanity.
Ka Ohana O Kalaupapa is an organization of Kalaupapa residents, patient family members and others. IDEA is an organization that promotes the dignity of Hansen’s disease patients worldwide.
Many of the negatives being catalogued were produced by Sacred Hearts Father Joseph Julliotte while he was pastor of St. Philomena Church in Kalaupapa from 1901 to 1907. His portraits were created with sensitivity and respect. They counterbalance the clinical photographs of the patients taken by the U.S. Public Health Service, which focused on documenting the disease rather than the person.
Ka Ohana O Kalaupapa made available to the project its resource documents of people admitted to Kalaupapa and its photo bank of more than 1,000 images. Most of these pictures are from the Health Service and date from 1900 to 1912. The project compared and matched these photos with Father Julliotte’s portraits.
After a resident was visually identified, other information was carefully researched and recorded, including age, occupation, town of origin, date of arrival at Kalaupapa and death date.
The results are stored in a computer database at the Sacred Hearts Congregation province archives at St. Patrick Monastery in Kaimuki. On-site access to this database is available by appointment. For more information or to schedule an appointment, call Sacred Hearts archivist Stuart Ching at 282-8308.
Free presentation
The public is invited to the free presentation, “Soulful Eyes: The Identification of Kalaupapa Residents in Photographs Taken by Father Joseph Julliotte, 1901-1907,” 3 p.m., April 24, at Sacred Hearts Center, 45-713 Pookela Street, Kaneohe. (Drive toward Windward Community College, turn left by the Kaneohe Courthouse, and follow the road to the cul-de-sac at the end.)
Humanities scholar and Kalaupapa historian Anwei Law and Sacred Hearts archivist Stuart Ching will discuss the process involved in identifying images of Kalaupapa residents, the challenges presented and the successes achieved.
This program is sponsored by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts and the Hawaii Council for the Humanities, with additional support from the Damien and Marianne Foundation and Ka Ohana O Kalaupapa.
