Ralph Simpson Kuykendall

Background

Ralph Simpson Kuykendall was born on April 12, 1885 in Linden, California, United States. He was the son of John Wesley Kuykendall, a Methodist clergyman, and of Marilla Persis Pierce, whose parents were Methodist missionaries in India. Growing up in a parsonage instilled in Kuykendall a strong sense of morality, a compassionate spirit, and the value of hard work.

Education

The five California schools Kuykendall attended marked the frequent changes in his father's pastorates. In 1910, Kuykendall was granted a Bachelor's degree by the College of the Pacific. He spent a year at Stanford University. In 1918 Kuykendall received Master of Arts from the University of California at Berkeley; his thesis was titled "History of Early California Journalism. "

Career

Kuykendall worked as a journalist in Florida (1912 - 1916). Then he turned to history, inventorying county archives during two years with the California Historical Survey Commission.

Kuykendall spent the academic years 1919-1921 at Berkeley, working on a doctorate. He was next awarded a fellowship for research on Spanish voyages to the Pacific Coast, which enabled him to work in Spanish archives in 1921-1922. While in Seville he was invited by the recently constituted Hawaiian Historical Commission to become its executive secretary. He accepted reluctantly, and arrived with his wife at Honolulu on June 19, 1922. Kuykendall's initial responsibility was to prepare a textbook on Hawaiian history for the elementary schools. Herbert E. Gregory, director of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, provided three introductory chapters on Hawaii's prehistory. Kuykendall composed the remainder. To minimize the controversies emphasized in earlier Hawaiian histories, he focused each chapter on "some person, some event, or some clearly defined line of development. " By stressing both Hawaii's foreign relations and its domestic society, he avoided the polemic aspect of island history. The volume, A History of Hawaii (1926), replaced William DeWitt Alexander's A Brief History of the Hawaiian People (1891).

In 1923 the territorial legislature authorized the Historical Commission to produce a history of Hawaii's role in World War I. Kuykendall, assisted by Lorin Tarr Gill, took on the task. Hawaii in the World War (1928) was a detailed account of military and civilian involvement. The commission was also directed in 1923 to publish "a revised history of the Hawaiian people. " In writing it Kuykendall searched extensively outside the islands in governmental archives and private collections. He visited depositories in North America on three occasions. Investigators were employed to copy diplomatic correspondence in Washington, London, Paris, and Mexico City. More than 8, 000 pages of material were gathered from agencies outside Hawaii. Meanwhile, Kuykendall created a comprehensive file of references to local sources as well as to the documents secured abroad. By mid-1932 he had systematically examined the evidence covering the reigns of the first three Hawaiian kings. The Great Depression intervened, though, and the legislature abolished the Historical Commission. Its functions were shifted to the University of Hawaii. Kuykendall had offered courses in Hawaiian and Pacific history at the university since 1923, and had attained the rank of assistant professor in 1930. He labored steadily on the general history, and in 1938 published its first volume, The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1778-1854: Foundation and Transformation. Stressing politics, diplomacy, culture, and economics, its coverage extended through the reign of Kamehameha III. In 1938 Kuykendall was also promoted to associate professor.

During World War II, Kuykendall chaired a committee that directed the Hawaii War Records Depository, a project of the university to document the islanders' part in the war. He was made a full professor in 1949, and retired the next year. The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1854-1874: Twenty Critical Years appeared in 1953. In retirement, Kuykendall continued his research and writing.

He died in Tucson, Arizona, leaving unfinished the final chapter of his volume on Kalakaua and Liliuokalani. His colleague Charles H. Hunter completed The Hawaiian Kingdom, 1874-1893: The Kalakaua Dynasty (1967).

Achievements

• Kuykendall's three classic volumes on the Hawaiian monarchy are his monument. The University of Hawaii at Manoa named the building in which the English Department resides after Kuykendall.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Early History Of Yosemite Valley, California (1919)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • Hawaii: A History from Polynesian Kingdom to American Statehood

    (Book by Kuykendall, Ralph Simpson)

  • The Hawaiian Kingdom, V2: Twenty Critical Years, 1854-1874

Connections

On August 11, 1919 Kuykendall married Edith Clare Kelly; they had two sons.

Father:

John Wesley Kuykendall

clergyman

Mother:

Marilla Persis Pierce

Spouse:

Edith Clare Kelly

colleague:

Charles H. Hunter