Profile In 1985, Nanette Napoleon founded The Cemetery Research Project in order to document graveyards and burials on the island of O‘ahu. Since then she has completed inventories for the islands Maui and Moloka‘i, which include the identification of more than 300 graveyards and the documentation of more than 30,000 individual tombstone inscriptions. This information has been published in the form of cemetery directories, which are available at libraries and archives throughout the state. (Island of Oahu Cemetery Directory, Maui County Cemetery Directory) |
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Over the past 21 years Nanette has developed a series of graveyard walking tours which focus on the cultural and historic significance of graveyards; has authored numerous articles about graveyards in Hawai‘i; and has given over 200 slide-show lectures at schools, civic organizations, museums, historic societies, and conferences; and serves on the board of trustees for O‘ahu Cemetery, Hawai‘i’s most historic graveyard. She has also been the subject of numerous newspaper and mgazine articles and has been featured on such television programs as CBS News with Dan Rather, McNeil-Lerer Report and Seattle Today. |
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Her pioneering cemetery research work has earned her the distinction of being the foremost authority on the historic graveyards in the state of Hawai‘i. In 1988, she received a prestigious Preservation Award from the Historic Hawai’i Foundation. She is also a 20-year member of the Association of Gravestone Studies, an international group whose members study and preserve graveyards and tombstones. Read more about Nanette and her cemetery work by clicking on the following link to Hana Hou, the in-flight mgazine for Hawaiian Airlines: Link to Hana Hou
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