In the Hawaii State Archives, the records relating to Hansen’s Disease in the Department of Health, Communicable Disease Division date from 1866-1965. They concern the administration of the Kakaako and Kalihi receiving station and the Kalihi Hospital in Honolulu and of the Kalaupapa settlement on Molokai. They include patient registers, medical examination records, and the monthly reports of the administrators of Kalihi Hospital and the superintendents of Kalaupapa. The Honolulu facilities registers contain medical diagnoses and the subsequent action taken, whether treatment, discharge or transfer to Molokai. The Molokai registers record mainly the name, date of arrival and death date of the patient. (There are restrictions on this part of the collection.)

The repository also holds health and hospital records as follows: annual reports of the Board of Hospitals and Settlement (1932-1940); correspondence of the Board of Health (1905-1917). This consists of correspondence between the President, the Secretary of the Board acting for the President, and the government physicians and sanitary agents on matters relating to the treatment of indigent persons, reporting of communicable disease outbreaks, the establishment of quarantine, and various administrative matters. There are Incoming Letters of the Board of Health (1850-1941) such as incoming reports and letters from government physicians and the superintendent of the Leper Settlement. (Subjects of the reports include communicable disease outbreaks, sanitation conditions, immunization plans and results and administrative matters.) The minutes of the Board of Hospitals and Settlement (1931-1949) include material relating to the Board’s policy and decisions relating to the care and treatment of persons with Hansen’s Disease. These include decisions relating to staffing, the care and treatment of patients, the construction and improvement of facilities, and the supervision of expenditures. Amongst the incoming letters to the Adjutant General, 1893, there are the July 1893 reports of the National Guard expedition to the Napali coast to capture Koolau “the leper”, at Kalalau Valley.

In the McGrew-Cooper-Wood Family papers (1865-1976) are the papers of Charles B Cooper (1864-1940) who inaugurated a Federal program to research a cure for leprosy in Hawaii.

Entry made February 2002