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Title
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Attendees of the 1957 Pacific University Lu'au
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Description
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Pacific University students, alumni and faculty attending a Lu'au outdoors on May 25, 1957. Several attendees wear leis. They are seated at tables set up on the campus lawn near McCormick Hall, where Walter Hall would be built the following year. Bates Hall can be seen in the background, alongside a miniature pony ride. This lu'au was held on the Saturday afternoon preceding Pacific's 1957 Commencement ceremony. The photograph was taken by Herb Drew (Class of 1960). For two other images of the same event, see: PUApic_008557 and PUApic_008558.
An article published in the campus newspaper, "Pacific celebrates initiation of Luau" (The Index, May 27, 1957, p. 1), described the event: "Saturday noon saw the initiation of Pacific University's first Luau, a Hawaiian dinner held in honor of the Rev. Roy Beecher Damron who was slated to receive an honorary degree from Pacific this year. The dinner, held at the proposed site of the new girls' dorm [i.e. Walter Hall], was given for the general purpose of honoring Hawaiian students, and the senior class. From 12 to 1 p.m., the group ate cracked crab and were entertained by Pacific students. Drs. Frank Chipps and Lowell Ellis were chairmen of the event, with Dr. Meredith McVickers handling the decorations."
This 1957 outdoor Lu'au predated the later Lu'au tradition established by Pacific University's Haumana O Hawai'i (Hawaii Student) club in 1961. Unlike the Hawaii Club Lu'aus, this 1957 event was not hosted by Hawaiian students, and was apparently much less authentic. One of the founders of Haumana O Hawai'i, Professor Fred Scheller, recalled, "“We really didn’t think their lu‘au was very good and we [complained]." Their complaints led to a challenge for the club to put on a lu'au instead, which they first did in 1961. (See: "The Aloha Connection," Pacific Magazine, Spring 2010, p. 12.)
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Identifier
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PUApic_008559
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Language
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English
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Date Created
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May 25, 1957
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Date
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1957
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Medium
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gelatin silver prints
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Rights
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http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/
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Type
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Still Image
PUApic_008559.jpg