About us.
The video we share below was made in the first year after the museum opened in 2013. Museum founder Wayne Subica talks about his life time collecting plantation era artifacts, what is on display in the museum, and the way the plantation era changed Hawaiʻi.
What we have.
- Artifacts and displays that show the work of the plantations. (See our gallery page.)
- Signs and goods from stores in Hilo and around the island, and plantation workers' households. (See our gallery page.)
- Some runs of plantation newspapers, city directories, high school yearbooks, ship passenger lists, and other records of the people who lived and worked on the plantations.
- Photos and films of plantation life and work.
- Books for sale about plantation Hawaiʻi written by Wayne Subica and others, and including reprints of public domain source material. We also have a small library of documents, publications, maps, and scholarly works pertaining to the plantations.
- Volunteer docents with a passion for learning and sharing about the plantation era.
Please visit us at Hawaiʻi Plantation Museum! Our visitors are diverse:
- Some are visitors from the mainland U.S., Japan, and other countries, who seek to learn more about the history of Hawaiʻi.
- Some are people who remember lives lived on the plantation or in communities like Hilo and Honokaʻa that served the plantation workers.
- Some of our visitors seek information about grandparents and great-grandparents who once lived on the Big Island. We try to help as best we can. Sometimes we hit singles or doubles. Sometimes we strike-out. We try our best.
Whoever you are, our docents would love to give you a tour, talk story, share what they know about the plantations, and listen to what you know.
The Hawaiʻi Plantation Museum is a 501(c)3 non-profit, supported by museum admissions, sales of books, and the much appreciated donations of our visitors and supporters.We look forward to seeing you all at the museum. Aloha and mahalo!