Koreans in Honolulu Newspapers, 1903-1945

Abstract

This is an index of articles on Koreans and Korea found in Hawai‘i’s two largest newspapers, the Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star Bulletin, from 1903 to 1945. The index will provide valuable assistance to those seeking to gain a better understanding of the two most popular topics on Koreans in America, those being the Korean independence movement in America and Korean American churches. It is hoped that this index will open new avenues into the study of Koreans in Hawai‘i. This index provides a look into the lifestyles, development, and evolution the Koreans who lived in the Islands during the first half of the twentieth century. It should be noted that these news articles were often the only contact between the Koreans and other races. As such, it will contribute worthwhile information on lesser studied issues such as crime, race relations, and so forth.

The index was compiled from the microfilmed copies of the two newspapers by a single graduate student over the course of two and a half years (1998–2000). The years 1903 to 1945 were searched day by day and page by page for any article related to Korea in general, but most specifically for Koreans in Hawai‘i. In an effort to strike a balance between speed and efficiency, the article titles were scanned for words that could possibly be related to Asia, Korea, or Koreans. If a word within the title was surmised to be remotely related to this topic, the text of the article was read. Thus, in all likelihood, there are a number of articles that are not included because the titles gave no indication that the text was relevant.

Work began on this index without foreknowledge that the project would evolve into an Internet resource. Because of this shortsightedness, the general user may encounter several inconveniences that should be noted. First, there is an unevenness to the citations. For example, some citations lack page numbers and citations are listed as mere dates appended to articles on the same subject. Second, a number of citations have dates or abbreviated titles that follow entries. These dates refer to other articles on the same topic. And finally, only a small number of articles have short summaries of their content.

And finally, there are a limited number of citations for the post 1945 era. These are articles are from the microfilm collection known as the “newspaper morgue,” which can be found in the University of Hawai‘i Hamilton Library or the Hawai‘i State Library. These articles are filed according to subject or individual. The morgue is far from comprehensive, but offers a reasonable starting point.

The index is set up in a simple manner. It offers the article title and date. Some citations contain a page number, summaries of the article content, or dates of related articles.