Hawaii and California Sheet Music

Music celebrated the visit to San Francisco in 1874 of Hawaii's King Kalakaua (reign 1874-1891). The words of the national anthem, composed by the king himself, "Hawaii Ponoi" composed by the king himself, were set to music by Henry Berger; a photograph of the king in formal attire is affixed to the sheet music cover. Local San Franciscan composer Louis Boedecker dedicated his "Kalakaua March" to King Kalakaua; a photograph of the king in military garb is affixed in a printed frame.

In 1884 Queen Liliuokalani's (reign 1891-1895) famous "Aloha Oe" was published in Hawaiian, German, and English, with a lithograph of islanders. An arrangement for chorus with Hawaiian words was issued in San Francisco and Honolulu in 1893 as part of a series of 23 items entitled "Mele Hawaii." Unfortunately none of the other titles in the series was found in the collections digitized for this project.

Another series of songs in the Hawaiian language, "Songs of Hawaii," includes "Mai poina oe la'u," arranged by Hopkins and illustrated with a beach photograph within a lithographic frame. The series "Hawaiian Songs" is also represented by "Tomi, Tomi, Hawaiian Hula," again in the Hawaiian language.

The nostalgic "Take Me Again to My Island Home," with a lithographic view of the islands, is the single title printed at Santa Clara.

The blackface minstrel show had its own vision of Hawaii, found in "My Honolulu Lady" and "Belle of Honolulu" by Lee Johnson, "My Honolulu Queen" ("her face a dusky shade"), and "Ma Honolulu Man."