Leprosy is the topic for Kona Historical Society’s next Virtual Talk Story
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The public is invited to join in Kona Historical Society’s next monthly Virtual Talk Story with Maile Melrose, a local author and historian, who will be discussing another pandemic that changed history.
Mondays with Maile will be live streamed at 1 p.m. on July 13 on the Society’s Facebook Page and later shared on the Society’s YouTube channel. Melrose will discuss leprosy, or Hansen’s disease, and how this illness rapidly spread throughout Hawai‘i, beginning in the early 1800s. She will also share how people who were diagnosed with leprosy were treated in Hawai‘i during this time period. In addition, she plans to speak about how the infectious nature and lack of treatment for the disease spurred Hawai‘i to introduce laws that allowed for the arrest and removal of people with leprosy to places of treatment or isolation, including to the Kalaupapa peninsula on the island of Moloka‘i.
During this program, Melrose will highlight “Doctor Georges Phillipe Trousseau, Royal Physician,” an article written in 1991 by former Kona Historical Society historian Jean Greenwell for The Hawaiian Journal of History. The article includes a discussion about leprosy and Trousseau’s role in sending people with leprosy to Moloka‘i. Melrose said Trousseau was a friend to many, including ali‘i in Honolulu and Henry Nicholas Greenwell of Kalukalu. Kona Historical Society now owns and stewards the historic general store Greenwell ran at Kalukalu. This historic building has been restored to approximately 1891 and is a museum.
“Epidemics and pandemics are a part of our history that is particularly interesting to me in this time of the coronavirus,” Melrose said. “This will be a brief tale of leprosy and now it affected Hawai‘i, using Dr. Trousseau’s experience to illustrate how the solution to epidemics is never clear cut, often painful, and the cost is paid in human lives.”
Melrose is one of this year’s honorees for the Historic Hawai‘i Foundation’s Historic Preservation Honor Awards. A long-time Kona Historical Society supporter and the president of Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, Melrose has dedicated her life and much of her exceptional work to preserving Kona’s history. Melrose has contributed to our local history through the online publication, “Maile’s Meanderings,” which was created in collaboration with the Society and is currently available as a free digital resource on the Society’s website. For years, Melrose has helped the Society with its programs, including guided special tours and events that immerse participants into Kona’s past.
Mondays with Maile is a new digital program that Kona Historical Society started in April. It is a collaboration between Melrose and the Society. Through this program, stories and memories of Kona are shared while the speaker answers viewers’ questions and often highlights resources found in the Society’s collections at its Kalukalu Headquarters.
Kona Historical Society is a community-based, nonprofit organization and Smithsonian Museum affiliate that has spent the past four decades collecting, preserving and sharing the history of the Kona districts and their rich cultural heritage within Hawai‘i. To view past installments of Mondays with Maile or for more information, go to https://konahistorical.org/mondays-with-maile.
FOR MEDIA: If you would like more information about this topic, photos, or to schedule an interview, please email Executive Director Dance Aoki (dance@konahistorical.org) or Community Engagement Manager Carolyn Lucas-Zenk (carolyn@konahistorical.org). For general information about our organization, visit www.konahistorical.org.