Iconic Teacher and Scholar of Hawaiian Culture Honored in Naming of New Learning Commons
In May, Punahou announced that the Learning Commons in the Academy, our newest learning facility, is being named in honor of Mary Abigail Kawena‘ulaokalaniahi‘iakaikapoliopelekawahine‘aihonua Pukui, a preeminent Hawaiian scholar, teacher, storyteller, historian and visionary.
Naming the Learning Commons for an intellectual activist and inspirational teacher recognizes the courage, dedication, creativity and deep care that Mrs. Pukui had for the children of Punahou and Hawai‘i,” says President Mike Latham ’86. “Mary Kawena Pukui was a transformative and compelling voice in the study of Hawaiian culture in the 20th century. Her work continues to speak to us today, calling us to embrace our unique heritage and guiding the way toward a future of hope and community. Punahou was a beneficiary of Mrs. Pukui’s knowledge of storytelling, mele and hula as a teacher from 1936 – 1941, and her impact and influence endures. The Mary Kawena Pukui Learning Commons will be a dynamic and welcoming space where our students, faculty and staff will share ideas, create memories and grow together.”
The Mary Kawena Pukui Learning Commons is a complete overhaul and expansion of the School’s 1964 Cooke Library, with a projected opening in 2026. The new LEED certified sustainable design will create collaborative new spaces for learning and innovation, dramatically increase indoor and outdoor gathering areas and enhance project-based learning.
“My grandmother would be so happy to know that Punahou is honoring her legacy in this way,” says La‘akea Suganuma, who is her grandson and president of the Mary Kawena Pukui Cultural Preservation Society. “She dedicated her life to the children of Hawai‘i, and that’s what this new learning commons represents – a place for future generations to learn and thrive together.”
Punahou photographs, curriculum, moving images and audio of Pukui as well as her publications will be housed in a dedicated space, for and about ‘ike Hawai‘i. “Lumi Pukuku‘i” will be prominently located within the facility, and the overall aesthetic design of the Learning Commons will evoke her influence. The revamped building was planned and designed by Honolulu-based WhiteSpace Architects, which was founded by the late Pip White ’66, and the contractor is Albert C. Kobayashi, Inc.
“The building reflects our vision of education at Punahou, building on the School’s traditions while looking at the future,” says Academy Principal Gustavo Carrera.
Pukui’s legacy at Punahou has deep roots. In the 1930s she played an instrumental role in expanding and strengthening the Junior School’s Hawaiian Studies program.
Bridging Two Worlds
Born in 1895 in the remote Ka‘ū District on Hawai‘i island, Pukui reflected the cultural intersections at the origins of Punahou School itself. Her mother, Pa‘ahana Kanaka‘ole, was from a long and revered ancestral line of priests, medicinal experts and midwives in Kīlauea and Ka‘ū. Her father, Henry Nathaniel Wiggin, was a sugar plantation manager from Salem, Massachusetts, and a descendant of Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor Simon Bradstreet and his wife, Anne Bradstreet, the famous Puritan poet.
Raised first by her maternal grandmother, who had danced in the court of Queen Emma, Pukui was immersed in Hawaiian culture from childhood. She was truly bilingual and bicultural, a fluidity that gave her a unique perspective – and the skillset – to become one of the foremost preservers of ancient Hawaiian traditions during a pivotal point in history, when the Hawaiian language was no longer being taught in schools and was being lost in the general population.
“Because I know my mother’s language,” Pukui reflected, “I’ve enjoyed exchanging thoughts with other Polynesians, to discover our likenesses and our differences. And because I know my father’s, I can explain to others what we have had here and lost, and what we still retain. Knowledge, to me, is life.”
Immeasurable Contributions
When Pukui was a young girl, children in Hawai‘i were already being educated in English, making her work around cultural preservation all the more urgent. In the early 20th century, when she moved with her parents to Honolulu, Pukui embarked on a lifetime of teaching and writing about Hawai‘i. Even as a teenager, she began to collect and record Hawaiian stories and proverbs.
Through the early 1940s Pukui taught at the Kamehameha Schools and worked for nearly 40 years at the Bishop Museum. Eventually, she would publish more than 50 books and articles and compose over 150 songs and chants. She is the co-author of the definitive “Hawaiian-English Dictionary” (1957, revised 1986), “Place Names of Hawaii” (1974), and “The Echo of
Our Song” (1974), a translation of old chants and songs. Her masterpiece, “‘Ōlelo No‘eau,” contains nearly 3,000 examples of Hawaiian proverbs and sayings, translated and annotated. The two-volume set “Na-na- i ke Kumu (Look to the Source),” is an invaluable resource on Hawaiian customs and traditions.
For her influential scholarship, she was awarded the inaugural David Malo award in 1957, a Doctor of Letters by the University of Hawai‘i in 1960; a Doctor of Arts and Letters by the Church College of Hawai‘i in 1974; named a Living Treasure of Hawai‘i in 1976; nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1981; and inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame in 1995. Due to her work in translation and preservation, Pukui is often credited with making the Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1970s possible.
Left: Pukui is pictured with her grandsons, La‘akea Suganuma, left, and Kailoa Suganuma in 1956 reviewing songs she wrote for them. Photo courtesy of Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Right: Her passion and intellectual interest in Hawaiian culture began early on in life. As a teenager, Pukui started to collect and record Hawaiian stories and proverbs. Photo courtesy of La‘akea Suganuma.
An Indelible (Buff ’n Blue) Mark
In the 1930s, in collaboration with Punahou Head of K – 6 Music Jane Lathrop Winne (Class of 1903), Pukui expanded and strengthened the Hawaiian Studies program for the Junior School. They worked on other projects and in 1961, published a celebrated book of Hawaiian proverbs for children entitled “‘Ōlelo No‘eau a Ka Hawai‘i,” illustrated by Jessie Shaw Fisher (Class of 1906).
Pukui remained a friend and advisor to the School for many years, returning in April 1972 to retell the story of Ka Punahou to a new generation of children and watch them dance her hula. Her legacy continues to be a North Star for our ‘ike Hawai‘i program – and has even illuminated Punahou’s broad strategic vision.
Her words of aloha – “This school shall be a Spring of Wisdom. As the hala tree stands firm through wind or storm, so shall the children of this school stand strong and brave through joy and sorrow. And just as the hala tree has many uses, so shall these children be useful to Hawai‘i” – helped to inspire our new mission statement, which was revisited after 37 years and unveiled in 2023, reflecting the spiritual, social and ethical framework at the heart of a Punahou education.
“The Mary Kawena Pukui Learning Commons will be a gathering place and one of the focal buildings on the Punahou campus. It is a tribute to a dedicated scholar, teacher and cultural icon and demonstrates our deep commitment to the way Hawaiian culture contributes to shaping the overall mission of the School,” says Board Chair Wendy Crabb. “In addition to being a state-of-the-art intellectual and social hub, the project reflects Punahou’s dedication to being a resource for knowledge and discovery, grounded in the culture and history of our island home.”
Learn more about the Mary Kawena Pukui Learning Commons at learningcommons.punahou.edu.