The ‘Iolani School Archives collects, organizes, preserves and provides access to historical records of ‘Iolani School.
Kindergarten was introduced with the class of 1960 in school year 1947/48 (Ala Wai Campus).
Beginning in 1917, school colors were blue and white.
This changed to red, black, and white when we joined the Interscholastic League in 1936.
The Class of 1953 was the last to graduate from Nu'uanu Campus.
The Lower School opened at Ala Wai Campus in November 1946.
The Archives has school newspapers as far back as the 1920s, but no issues from the 1930s.
Elements of the school seal:
A version of the coat-of-arms design was adopted by the first Anglican Bishop of Hawai'i, Thomas Nettleship Staley.
St. Alban's Chapel is situated at the heart of campus between the Upper and Lower schools.
(See "Iolani Chapel Consecrated," Hawaiian Church Chronicle, Oct. 1954, page 3)
An Episcopal school from its founding, 'Iolani became an independent school in 1942.
'Iolani School traces it's beginnings to 1863; but, there were no graduating classes before 1917.
Click on the below images to enlarge and read remarks from the 1924 annual,
the first yearbook to be published.
Ka Moolelo O Iolani, 1924, "Alumni," pages 52-54.
(Publication title did not use diacritics at the time.)
'Iolani School had boarders through the 1959/60 school year.
Was exclusively a day school for school years 1960/61 - 2017/18.
The boarding program relaunched in school year 2018/19.
In former years, teachers were shipped to O'ahu on Matson liners.
'Iolani was founded as an all boys school. The implementation to coeducation was gradual.
The One Team Fieldhouse was completed Summer 2005.
The purpose was to have a covered play area for students.
The 'Iolani Fair started in 1948 as the Fun Festival and has gone by a few names:
It was called Fun Festival in 1948 - 1949.
It was called Carnival in the 1950s - 1980s.
As of 1990 it is called Fair.
Themes were introduced in the 1990s.
In the early days funds were raised for the Building Fund.
Now funds raised support student travel initiatives.
Always good times!
The Archives' collection of the 'Iolani School Bulletin begins in April 1960.
The school's Archives program was started in the late 1970s by a school librarian.
Various religious figures participated in a tree planting ceremony on the nascent Ala Wai Campus during the 58th Episcopal General Convention in 1955.
(See the below attached documents for more information.)
Hawai'i hosting the convention was notable because of the lack of segregation laws
which prevented a diverse gathering from occurring in the continental U.S.
(Hawai'i was a U.S. Territory at the time of the Convention.)
For more information about the Convention, please see the
Hawaiian Church Chronicle, September 1955 issue.
and
Hawaiian Church Chronicle, October 1955 issue.
The trivia appearing on this page were taken from various sources in the 'Iolani School Archives. For more information, schedule an appointment to conduct your research. Please note the Archives' open hours on the Welcome tab of this guide.
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