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DMcDAn acquaintance of mine in Honolulu has a scholarly collection of Hawaiiana, particularly as it pertains to the old Hawaiian monarchy. He shared with me this afternoon that portion of his collection that relates to Alexander Cartwright who came to Honolulu in 1849 and remained here until his death in 1892. Cartwright was, in turns, the founder of the Honolulu Fire Department, an insurance businessman, a civic leader and a financial advisor to the Royal Family.
The collection I saw comprised five notebooks and consisted of various photographs of Cartwright, his wife, their family home (which as it turns out was kitty-corner from St Andrews Cathedral in downtown Honolulu where my wife pulls soprano duty in the choir; AC would have seen the church edifice from his lanai back in the day), numerous documents relating to his business dealings, his membership in the Hawaii Base Ball Association, deeds in the Hawaiian language, etc etc. Many documents held his ornate signature and were wonderful to behold. There was, alas, no indication of his favorite breakfast cereal.
I was able to shoot some quick-and-dirty digital snapshots of a few of the items. Following are a CdV made by the same Chase of Honolulu as Corey's, a large dag of a younger Cartwright, and last, a copy of a photo held by the Bishop Museum (with Corey's CdV image) which indicates a date of 1865.
I should add that my friend is very rigorous in his desire to remain anonymous and is aware that many of his Cartwright items would fetch a pretty penny but has no desire to tender offers or part with any of his collection (in case anyone wondered).
