{"id":33111,"date":"2015-04-01T09:54:38","date_gmt":"2015-04-01T19:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=33111"},"modified":"2025-03-13T16:20:43","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T02:20:43","slug":"paniolo-pride-on-display-at-the-uh-hilo-heritage-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2015\/04\/01\/paniolo-pride-on-display-at-the-uh-hilo-heritage-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Paniolo pride on display at the UH<\/abbr> Hilo Heritage Center"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Kūkaʻiau<\/span> Ranch Paniolo circa 1940s. Andrade Collection, UH<\/abbr> Hilo Heritage Center<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A new exhibit, Nā Paniolo o Hāmākua, The Cowboys of Hāmākua<\/em>, is on display at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Hilo Heritage Center<\/a> in Honokaʻa<\/span>. The year-long exhibit will showcase photographs and artifacts from Hāmākua-area ranches and paniolo (cowboys).<\/p>\n

The opening and exhibit are free to the public.<\/p>\n

“When most people think of the post-Western contact history of the Hāmākua coast they think of sugar plantations, but there is a rich legacy of ranching in the area,” says Eileen “Momi” Naughton<\/strong>, coordinator of the Heritage Center. “Most of the plantations had their own ranches to provide horses and mules to the plantations as well as dairy products and meat for employees.”<\/p>\n

A Portuguese story<\/h2>\n

“When the first Portuguese laborers came to Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> in 1878, they brought their families and were given an acre of land and a house as part of their contract,” she says. “When their contracts were over, many Portuguese bought land and started dairies and small ranches. Most Portuguese had come from Madeira and the Azores where dairies were prevalent so they brought this knowledge with them.”<\/p>\n

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Donnie DeSilva, Anthony Gomes and Frank Ferreira in 1960 Honokaʻa<\/span> parade. From the DeSliva Collection, UH<\/abbr> Hilo Heritage Center<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“I think what has amazed me the most as I’ve done research on the families who ranch in Hāmākua is how these ranches have been passed down from generation to generation,” says Naughton. “When the plantations closed, the economy of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> shifted from an agricultural to a service industry subsistence. Yet these ranches have endured. One section of the exhibit is focusing on the new generation of paniolo and these would be the great-great-grandchildren of those who founded early ranches.”<\/p>\n

Exhibit contributors<\/h2>\n

The key contributors to this exhibit were all past or current paniolo—Donnie DeSilva, Charlie Kimura, William Andrade, Gary Rapozo, Wendell Branco and Stanley Cypriano. Also, Corrine Kealoha and Terri Mahuna DeVerra provided family photographs from Kūkaʻiau<\/span> Ranch.<\/p>\n

Preparation of the exhibit offered the opportunity for UH<\/abbr> Hilo student and anthropology major Arwen Potochney<\/strong> to work on the project through a directed studies class with Naughton last semester. Potochney was interested in paniolo leather craft, so she interviewed DeSilva and Kimura, both of whom have done leatherwork. In addition, Patochney designed the section of the exhibit and wrote the label copy or captions for the paniolo leatherwork.<\/p>\n

“All the exhibits we do in the changing gallery are community-based so that people can relate to the topics at hand,” says Naughton. “Exhibits such as this bring community pride and focus on elements of our community that many may not be aware of.”<\/p>\n

For the full story, visit the UH<\/abbr> Hilo Stories website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

—Written by UH<\/abbr> Hilo student Kara Nelson<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Year-long exhibit at the UH<\/abbr> Hilo Heritage Center in Honokaʻa to showcase the rich paniolo history of Hāmākua.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[225,14],"class_list":["post-33111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-history","tag-uh-hilo","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t