Friends of the Library

Even before the war broke out, Hawaii was invaded—by thousands of American service men and civil defense workers. On Sundays, when most of these men had liberty, the Library of Hawaii (now known as the Hawaii State Library) was closed. The first time it opened specifically to be available to these men was Sunday, February 23, 1941. It was the first day of Honolulu's Hospitality Week.

Head Librarian Margaret Newman opened the library from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at no cost to the taxpayers. Her library staff, almost all women, volunteered to work without pay, and they arranged for a musical program and refreshments. The staff urged the service men and the civilian defense workers to register for library cards, borrow books or just sit and read. (During the war years the library issued 25,000 library cards.)

Hospitality Week turned into Hospitality Month, and the library stepped up to the challenge. On March 2, 1941, they opened their doors—once again with unpaid volunteers.

Letters of thanks poured in from grateful military and civilian defense workers. Those letters got the wheels turning, and the Friends of the Library of Hawaii launched a drive to raise money to keep the library open on Sundays until the end of the fiscal biennium.

In the meantime, Margaret Newman solicited the legislature to increase the library budget from $237,910 to $310,360, to cover the cost of keeping the library open on Sunday. The legislature approved her request.

I digress a bit here, but I want to put in a plug for the Friends of the Library of Hawaii. As a former Hawaii State Public Library System librarian, I’d like to say thanks. They do more than most patrons realize. They also have an interesting website (www.friendsofthelibraryofhawaii.org).

I'm digressing even more, but I want to tell you about a short piece they have posted on their website; it’s about Alexander Joy Cartwright, Jr. (the “Father of Baseball"). He was one of the founders of the Honolulu Library Reading Room Association (early name of Friends of the Library of Hawaii).

He served on the board at a time, when women were not allowed to join the Friends. Cartwright objected. In a letter to his brother Alfred, he wrote: “The idea keeps the blessed ladies out. What makes us old geezers think we are the only ones to be spiritually and morally uplifted by a public library in this city?”

And one more thing about the Hawaii State Library: at the main entrance, on the wall to the right of the doors, there is a brass plaque dedicated to the civilian dead of December 7, 1941 attack. Among those civilian dead was Patrick Kahamokupuni Chong, age 30, of 1457 Fort Street. Chong was a janitor at Library of Hawaii.

The Honolulu Star Bulletin, December 7, 1941, 2nd Edition, p. 1 identifies a man who killed in front of the Schumann Carriage Dealership [opposite from the governor’s residence at Washington Place] as Patrick J. Chong of 1457 Fort Street. I assume this was the same man and that the discrepancy is either a typographical error, or the middle initial of his English name.

Chong was killed while he was visiting his daughter, Eunice Wilson, age 7 months, at the home of the infant’s mother, Edith Wilson. A shell hit near Edith Wilson’s home killing both her infant daughter and Chong.

For a full list of civilian dead on December 7, 1941, go to the home page and click on “Appendices” in the left column.

PHOTOS: Both photos are of envelopes celebrating Library Week in Hawaii. The design is of the front portico of the Hawaii State Library. (Courtesy Pacific Philatelic Society.)