Conducting Genealogy Research in Hawaiʻi: Land and Map Information

Many of the index entries refer to Hawaiian government records from the Privy Council, Interior Department, Foreign Office, Commissioner of Public Lands, and Territorial Governor’s administration records. The Place Names Index is NOT a comprehensive list of all land records. At this time place names for letters A, E, U are available online. Entries to the online Land Index will be updated periodically. The complete Land Index is available in the reading room of the Hawaii State Archives.

Scanned copy of the Mahele Book, which contains a record of the transactions that took place during the Mahele of 1848 under Kauikeaouli.

Website provides information about the Mahele, Land Commission Awards, Foreign and Native Testimonies, and has ahupuaʻa profiles for most ahupuaʻa on Oʻahu.

This database allows users to perform keyword searches for Land Commission Awards, Native Testimonies, and Foreign Testimonies.

Hawaiʻi Government Maps contain information related to place names, boundary information, and land tenure.

Dakin Publishing Company of San Francisco was one of the most successful producer of fire insurance plans. It was in existence from about 1885 until the early 1960's, actively producing insurance maps from its beginning until the 1920's.

In October 2004, heavy rain caused multimillion-dollar flood damage to the Manoa area, including Hamilton Library. Over the next 4 years about 10,000 maps were cleaned and restored; an additional 40,000 were sent for work at a mainland contractor. This collection features some of the restored maps treated by University of Hawaii at Manoa Preservation staff.