Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program Blog

On Display Until March 13, 2011

Creating Hawai‘i opened at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History on August 21, 2009, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Hawai‘i becoming the 50th state in the union.

Creating Hawai‘i has 3 main subjects. The first case focuses on the perceived Hawai‘i, the iconic imagery of Hawai‘i, including aloha shirts, hula girls, surf boards, and leis. How has the general image of Hawai‘i been influenced by Hollywood, tourism, and sports?

The second case focuses of the realities of Hawai‘i: its “discovery” by Captain Cook and the creation of the monarchy, the rise of a haole oligarchy and a radically new land system and plantation agriculture with new immigration, the impact of American influence and eventual annexation along with Native Hawaiian resistance, the evolution of a “local” society, WWII and the issues around statehood, as well as the growth of tourism and strategic interdependence.

This showcase examines the popular imagery of Hawai‘i, including the exoticism, the distant land, and the paradise.  These perceptions are juxtaposed with the reality of Hawai‘i’s long and intimate role within American history through commerce, military significance, and immigration. For example, the exhibition opens with a surfboard donated by a professional woman surfer, as well as an album jacket of Elvis Presley’s “Blue Hawaii,” and an aloha shirt worn on “Hawaii 50.” It also explores Hawai‘i’s journey from early U.S. contact to its current place in American pop culture. But visitors then are shown examples of the development of a new ruling oligarchy and the exploitation of land and natural resources as well as the islands’ strategic location as a key way station in the Pacific (whaling and military bases). The exhibition includes a Hawaiian flag from Queen Liliuokalani’s era and evidence of the native resistance to annexation. It asks the visitors to consider how and why perceptions of hula girls, leis, and Hawaiian shirts dominate our imagination and how these distortions impact the lives of native peoples. The juxtaposition of these contrasting views of Hawai‘i provides a thought-provoking look at the construction of “paradise” and the role we all play in it.

NOTE: The NMAH will have extended hours on the Friday and Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. The Museum will close at 5:30 on Thursday, November 26; 7:30 p.m. on Friday, November 27; 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 28; and 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 29. Opening time will be 10:00 a.m. every day.