The story chronicled in Hawaiian Pineapple Entrepreneurs is a microcosm of the growth and decline of an agricultural industry and the end of a way of life in the Hawaiian Islands.
About The Book
This remarkable book, developed from detailed research and more than a hundred personal interviews, weaves together corporate documents, personal memories, archived articles, blueprints, hundreds of historic photos and individual perspectives of both laborers and managers who lived the life required to grow, manage, process and promote Hawaiian pineapple.
Excerpt:
The story of pineapple in Hawai‘i is of people, places and companies fitted together during its rise, peak, and decline spanning the twentieth century. By the late 1920s at least sixteen pineapple growing or processing firms were located on six of the eight major islands. At its peak in the 1940s, canned pineapple equaled more than two-thirds the dollar value of Hawai‘i’s raw sugar sales. Facing worldwide competition, increasing land prices and labor costs, the pineapple industry began its decline in the 1970s, with the final closure of the last canning facility at Maui Pineapple in June of 2007.
You’ll find the answers to these fascinating questions
Did you know Jim Dole initiated the first national advertising campaign to cooperatively promote a food product category—Hawaiian pineapple—instead of his own brand?
Did you know canning pineapple began in the Bahamas? And it was primarily done by hand?
Did you know famous artists such as Georgia O'Keefe were hired to illustrate pineapple ads in the '30s and '40s?
What was it like to live and work on a pineapple plantation?
What happened to the pineapple industry in Hawai‘i? Why are the islands no longer blanketed with pineapple fields? Why did the canneries close down?
Table of Contents
Every chapter tells a piece of the Hawaiian pineapple story. Each is filled with historic photos, ads, article excerpts, corporate documents, portraits, personal memories and stories of the people, places, processes and innovations that drove the Hawaiian pineapple industry.
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Chapter 1 | Early Hawai‘i
The pineapple plant appears to have been well established in “the Sandwich Islands” by the early 1800s, before the arrival of the missionaries. In this chapter the possible trade routes across the Pacific are traced, old photos and etchings chronicle Captain Cooke’s and Captain George Vancouver’s visits and show early images of Hawaiians living in grass shacks and cultivating pineapple, papaya and bananas.
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Chapter 2 | The Early U.S. Pineapple Market
Early efforts to preserve fruits and vegetables, beginning in 1810, founded the fruit processing industry. Baltimore, Maryland became America’s first food processing center in the 1850s and the primary source of canned pineapple sold in the U.S., importing most of the pineapples from the Bahamas. Early etchings show the laborious process and hand labor required to pick, cook, process and can pineapple into handmade cans in the late 1800s.
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Chapter 3 | Early Days of Pineapple Processing
From the first canning in Hawai‘i in 1882 to the rise and fall of many small canneries, testing of different growing techniques and areas, and plantations established on different islands, the groundwork was laid for the successful establishment and growth of Hawaiian Pineapple Co., founded by Jim Dole; Libby McNeill Libby; and California Packing Corp, packing under the Del Monte name. This chapter outlines the dramatic growth of the industry from 1882 to the 1920s, the addition of Ginaca machines to automate work, and expansion of planted acreage to fulfill on the demands for canned pineapple.
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Chapter 4 | The Introduction and Success of Pineapple Juice
The evolution of pineapple juice followed the development of the Hawaiian pineapple industry. Dole’s clear pineapple juice, packed in glass, was promoted in advertising in 1911, but failed due to discoloration that occurred over time. By the 1930s canned juice sales exploded. Dole, Libby’s and Calpac (Del Monte) continued to develop juice products, single strength, concentrates and frozen concentrates. Pineapple juice and juice blends continue to be popular worldwide. This chapter includes examples of early and later advertising, as well as historic photos of the canneries as juice packing evolved.
ABOUT JACK L. LARSEN
The author, Jack Lucas Larsen, traces his roots in the Hawaiian Islands back to his great-grandfather, George Lucas, who arrived in Hawai‘i around 1852 and went on to establish the Honolulu Steam Planing Mill, which contributed furniture and detailing to the ‘Iolani Palace in Honolulu, completed in 1885 by King Kalãkaua.
Jack’s eighteen-year career in the pineapple industry in Hawai‘i inspired the research and writing of this book. Beginning in 1952, he worked on the Dole Lana‘i plantation for three years and was then moved to Dole’s Wahiawa plantation before going to the cannery in Honolulu. After two years on the mainland at Castle & Cooke canneries in California and Oregon, he returned to Hawai‘i as Director of Pineapple Planning in a worldwide search for low cost pineapple production areas. He then left Dole to establish his own firm, Agroland Inc., to consult on growing and processing tropical crops around the world.
Twenty years of interviews, research and writing
Before writing Hawaiian Pineapple Entrepreneurs, Jack personally conducted more than 170 interviews with those directly involved in the industry, many of whom have since passed away, and pursued detailed research in various corporate archives and at the University of Hawai‘i to establish the foundation for this thorough compilation of the pineapple industry in Hawai‘i.
Working with Dr. Tom Marks on the original manuscript, and then with his daughter to finalize the layout and design of the book, Jack’s inside knowledge and understanding, as well as his connection to Hawaiian history, has produced a remarkable story unlike any other book written on the history of pineapple industry.
Jack Lucas Larsen passed away in 2015.
Limited Edition!
Order your copy today! $75
A limited number were printed. Please order by using the order form, or email jlmorrow@creativeco.com.
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