Wildfires magnify importance of Hawaiian artifacts at American Antiquarian Society in Worcester
WORCESTER - So much of what was lost in Lahaina was living, breathing history but priceless artifacts were also destroyed.
The Lahaina Heritage museum once sat squarely in the middle of town. It's now a burnt out husk of a building. It housed priceless artifacts that told the story of the town's rich history as the cultural center of the island, and the one-time capital of the kingdom.
The devastation has magnified the importance of the artifacts housed at the American Antiquarian Society (AAS) in Worcester. WBZ first explored the center in May during AAPI Heritage month. The AAS houses some 1,300 Hawaiian literary artifacts it has accumulated, beginning when missionaries from Massachusetts sailed to the islands.
"Certainly now is not the time for tourism or going for a research trip so being able to come to Worcester and look at this material here is another opportunity for this cultural heritage to survive" said Elizabeth Watts Pope, Curator of Books and Digital Collections.
The society has dozens of original prints, manuscripts, maps and books specific to the Lahaina area. One image was printed on Maui in 1838 and shows a hillside above neighboring Lahainaluna. It offers a glimpse into the past, and a foreshadowing of disaster centuries later.
"This engraving of Lahainaluna really shows you the geographic landscape, and how that impacts the cultural settlement, and then now disaster" Watts Pope said.
Watts Pope understands the gravity of the situation. She hopes in some way, however small, the society's conservation can offer consolation.
"Paper isn't people and it isn't the land and it isn't all that has been lost, or damaged or hurt right now. But it allows you to touch that piece of history and have that continue in some form."