The Oldest Group Of Influential Hawaiʻi Citizens You've Never Heard Of

The Social Science Association is still going strong after 143 years. But its once high-profile community presence has faded from public view.

In 1882, King Kalākaua was still on the throne when 10 of the most prominent men in Honolulu gathered at the Rev. Dr. C.M. Hyde’s house at 122 Beretania St. That night, they formed the Honolulu Social Science Association, a civic discussion group made up of dozens of highly influential community members that has continued to meet regularly for more than 140 years.

The 10 who had been “hand picked as leaders of opinion,” as a history of the organization puts it, got together with the aim of “promoting each other’s advancement intellectually and socially,” as well as “the higher interests of the Community generally.” The constitution they adopted th