…which I know won’t be the last!

Shortly after publishing my epic 3-part article “The James Shaw Family: A Hawaiian Musical Dynasty” barely two months ago, I finally received a high-resolution scan of a crucial piece. Yes, the rare, smoking gun trade card of the Volcano Singers – the first to perform in America at a World’s Fair (Chicago, 1893)!

With a huge thank you to its owner, Jeff Carr, we now have much clearer detail to study and identify these historic musicians. The first result was that I was quickly able to resolve a major mis-identification (that had come from an unsuspected 100-year-old publishing goof-up).

Meanwhile, Early Hawaiian Music expert Kilin Reece managed to dig out a couple new rare images of James Shaw and friends (below) that fleshed out a few more timeline details, while providing additional musician identifications. All “first time ever” stuff!  Wini Matteson also unearthed additional news clippings with additional missing timeline clues.

This only affected Part 1; for those who’ve gotten through it already, the updates include:

Rewriting of pp 8-9 (Volcano Singers identification), pp 26-27 (1899 Omaha Fair), pp 39-42 (new dates, info – I tweaked timeline, added details, names, postcards).

Tweaking of pp 14-15 (Wini Matteson’s find of a rare Report of the Hawaiian Historical Society).

I hope you can find the time to explore and support this additional invaluable history of early Hawaiian musicians.