John Dominis Holt IV explained
John Dominis Holt IV (June 4, 1919 – March 29, 1993) was a Native Hawaiian writer, poet and cultural historian. In 1979, he was recognized as a Living Treasures of Hawaiʻi for his contribution to the Hawaiian Renaissance.
Family
He was born June 4, 1919 in Honolulu, to John Dominis Holt III (1885–1950) and May Ellen Bailey (1892–1975). His paternal grandfather was Colonel John Dominis Holt II, an officer of King Kalākaua and Queen Liliuokalani's military staff. From his mother, he descended from Hawaiian missionary and artist Edward Bailey. Holt was of mixed Native Hawaiian, Tahitian and English descent, known as a hapa haole in Hawaiian. According to family tradition, his ancestors included Hawaiian and Tahitian royalty. Other ancestors include Lucien Bonaparte, the younger brother of French Emperor Napoleon, and British Admiral Lord George Paulet.[1] By the time of his generation, the wealth and social standing of the family were long gone; but he spent his youth surrounded by older generations who loved to tell their memories of the monarchy. These traditional stories inspired his later writing as an adult.
His first marriage was to Fredda Burwell (1904–1972), an artist from New York. After her death in 1972, he remarried to Frances Patches McKinnon Damon, a granddaughter of Samuel Mills Damon. They adopted three children: Allison, Melanie, and Daniel. He worked as a landscape designer and contractor.
Literary career
Holt was educated Punahou School (briefly), Kamehameha Schools and graduated from President Theodore Roosevelt High School in Honolulu, In college, he attended Sacramento Junior College in Sacramento, George Washington University in Washington, DC, and from 1943 to 1946 he attended Columbia University but never acquired a degree. He lived in New York for some time before returning to Hawaii with his first wife Fredda. He worked as a landscape designer and contractor.
Holt is known mainly for his literary work. He wrote many books on the subject of Hawaiian history and culture. His works include writings about Hawaiian featherwork, family heritage and genealogy. The spirit of old Hawaii that he learned from family traditions and childhood tales of the monarchy became incorporated into the stories he wrote as an adult. In 1964, his essay "On Being Hawaiian" inspired the rise of the Second Hawaiian Renaissance movement. Holt brought pride back to the Hawaiian self-identity after decades of shame and negative stereotypes. Through his writings, Hawaii saw a revival in traditional Hawaiian culture, art and language.[2] Below is an excerpt from this essay:
Holt worked as a publisher for Topgallant Publishing Company and was a trustee for the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum. He was one of the earliest contemporary Hawaiian novelists. He and his second wife Patches worked as activists in the Hawaiian community, fighting against rapid development on the island of Oahu. They were also patrons of the arts. In 1979, he was recognized as a Living Treasures of Hawaiʻi.[3] In 1985, Holt was awarded the Hawai‘i Award for Literature by Governor John David Waiheʻe III.[4]
Holt died on March 29, 1993. He was buried in Oahu Cemetery in Honolulu. The John Dominis Holt Award for Excellence in Publishing, named in his honor, is awarded annually by Hawaii Book Publishers Association to an individual for their lifetime contribution to Hawaiian literature and book-publishing.[5] In 2001, John Dominis and Patches Damon Holt Gallery at the Honolulu Academy of Arts was named after Holt and his second wife.[6]
Works
- Book: Whitman. John B.. Holt. John Dominis. Peabody Museum of Salem. An Account of the Sandwich Islands: the Hawaiian Journal of John B. Whitman, 1813–1815. 1979. Topgallant Publishing Company; Salem, MS: Peabody Museum of Salem. Honolulu. 6648942.
- Book: Holt, John Dominis. The Art of Featherwork in Old Hawaiʻi. 1985. Topgallant Publishing Company. Honolulu. 978-0-914916-68-0. 13165036.
- Book: Holt, John Dominis. Art in Ancient Hawaii. 1971. 663391783.
- Book: Holt, John Dominis. Hale Hoike-ike: The Story of a House. 1961. Honolulu. 7017957.
- Book: Holt. John Dominis. McGregor. Davianna Pōmaikaʻi. Hanai, a Poem for Queen Liliuokalani. 1986. Topgallant Publishing Company. Honolulu. 978-0-914916-74-1. 14903156.
- Book: Holt, John Dominis. History of the Protestant Mission in Hawaii: 1830–1835. 46632597.
- Book: Holt, John Dominis. Kaulana Na Pua—Famous Are the Flowers: Queen Liliuokalani and the Throne of Hawaii. 1971. Topgallant Publishing Company. Honolulu. 978-0-914916-01-7. 4527828.
- Book: Holt. Frances MacKinnon Damon. Holt. John Dominis. Moanalua: Statement on the Historical Significance of Moanalua. 1973. Moanalua Gardens Foundation. Honolulu. 663213152.
- Book: Holt, John Dominis. Monarchy in Hawaii. 1974. Hogarth Press. Honolulu. 2405531.
- Book: Holt, John Dominis. Moʻolelo ʻo Holt. 1979. Kamehameha Schools/Bernice P. Bishop Estate. Honolulu. 8775981.
- Book: Holt, John Dominis. On Being Hawaiian. 1964. 1st. Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Honolulu. 222391884.
- Book: Holt, John Dominis. On Being Hawaiian. 1974. 2nd. Topgallant Publishing Company. Honolulu. 978-0-914916-23-9. 1231853.
- Missing third edition
- Book: Holt, John Dominis. On Being Hawaiian. 1995. 4th. Kū Paʻa. Honolulu. 978-0-914916-23-9. 680564031.
- Book: Holt, John Dominis. Princess of the Night Rides and Other Tales. 1977. Topgallant Publishing Company. Honolulu. 978-0-914916-22-2. 2345624.
- Book: Holt, John Dominis. Recollections: Memoirs of John Dominis Holt, 1919–1935. 1993. Kū Paʻa. Honolulu. 9780681027831. 30886291.
- Book: Holt, John Dominis. Robert William Holt: Founder of the Holt Family in Hawaii. 1988. Topgallant Publishing Company. Honolulu. 19664741.
- Book: Holt, John Dominis. The Royal Children of the Tabu Chiefess Keopuolani and the Great Kamehameha I. Honolulu. 851897816.
- Book: Holt, John Dominis. Today Ees Sad-dy Night and Other Stories. 1965. Star-Bulletin Print. Co.. Honolulu. 16340589.
- Book: Holt, John Dominis. Waimea Summer: a Novel. 1976. Topgallant Publishing Company. Honolulu. 978-0-914916-12-3. 3187684. registration.
Bibliography
- Casey, Alexander. "Surrounded by Spirits: Hauntings of Identity in Waimea Summer by John Dominis Holt." Dzieciństwo. Literatura i Kultura 2, no. 1 (2020): 78-91.
- Book: Dye. Bob. Hawaiʻi Chronicles Two. 1998. University of Hawaii Press. Honolulu. 978-0-8248-1984-2. 249244077.
- Hershinow. Sheldon. John Dominis Holt: Hawaiian-American Traditionalist. MELUS. Oxford. Oxford University Press. 7. 2. Summer 1980. 61–72. 10.2307/467085. 467085 .
- Holt. John Dominis. Sinesky. Alice. John Dominis Holt. Watumull Foundation Oral History Project. Honolulu. 16. 1987. 10524/48676. 663425247.
- Ledward. Brandon C.. On Being Hawaiian Enough: Contesting American Racialization with Native Hybridity. Hūlili: Multidisciplinary Research on Hawaiian Well-Being. Honolulu. Kamehameha Schools. 4. 1. 2007. 906020258. 107–143.
- Lee. Candace W.. A Biography of John Dominis Holt. A Catalog of The Johanna Drew Cluney Collection. July 2004. Kamehameha Schools Archives. Honolulu. viii–ix. 56685712.
- Book: Nelson, Emmanuel S.. Ethnic American Literature: An Encyclopedia for Students: An Encyclopedia for Students. 2015. ABC-CLIO. Santa Barbara. 978-1-61069-881-8. 902958180.
- Book: Najita, Susan Y.. Decolonizing Cultures in the Pacific: Reading History and Trauma in Contemporary Fiction. 2006. Routledge. New York. 978-1-134-21171-5. 77210286.
- Book: Smith, Keri E. Iyall. The State and Indigenous Movements. 2007. Routledge. New York. 978-1-135-86179-7. 70107033.
- Book: Taylor, Clarice B.. Holt. Lisa Ululani. The Fabulous Holt. https://web.archive.org/web/20161208225914/https://doc-0o-bo-docs.googleusercontent.com/docs/securesc/ha0ro937gcuc7l7deffksulhg5h7mbp1/lg1bp1bjgivj5hbnkr9cohlq58egh3ek/1481234400000/05748106306902505638/%2A/0B1TNpFAo1DgeYWl3bmQ5U2ZYTFE?e=download. December 8, 2016. 1954. Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Honolulu. dead.
Notes and References
- ; ;
- News: From On Being Hawaiian. The Nation. April 28, 2008. November 15, 2016.
- ; ; ;
- Web site: 41st Living Treasures of Hawaiʻi, 2016. 2016. Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii, Living Treasures of Hawaiʻi Committee. November 15, 2016.
- Web site: Hunahuna Meahou (Bits of News) From February '79. Haʻiilono Mele Newsletters. April 4, 1979. 5. 4. 12. November 15, 2016.
- Web site: Hawai'i Award for Literature. University of Hawai‘i. November 15, 2016.
- News: HPA award nominees announced. Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Honolulu. May 31, 1996. November 15, 2016.
- News: Wood. Ben. Consolidated opening. Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Honolulu. May 26, 2001. November 15, 2016.