Wednesday, May 14, 1997
What ever happened to the project to publish an encyclopedia of Hawaii? Hawaii encyclopedia
never came to passThe project died because of lack of funds for production, and it probably won't be resurrected.
The project was developed in the mid-1970s by the Hawaii Bicentennial Commission, which provided payment for more than 200 writers and editors to prepare a manuscript totaling some 6,000 pages about arts, culture and natural history of Hawaii, under the editorship of the late Robert L. "Bob" Scott, University of Hawaii journalism instructor.
More editing was anticipated by 1980, but funding ran out and no additional money was provided.
No funds were available for the University of Hawaii Press to publish the work as originally envisioned. Unlike commercial book publishers, UH Press is not allowed to borrow money for production, even though revenues may ultimately exceed costs. The encyclopedia's production costs likely would have exceeded $100,000.
As the bicentennial came and went, everyone lost interest.
A revived encyclopedia of Hawaii would entail raising money and beginning the project anew, perhaps taking the ideas encompassed in the earlier project. The defunct project's manuscript now rests in the state archives and is available on microfilm. It is not available on the Internet, said Mary Ann Akao, archivist.