Transfer of Hawaiian Volcano Observatory 
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, at 
Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii, has been transferred 
from the National Park Service to the United 
States Geological Survey. The change was made 
on December 28, 1947, by order of the Secre¬ 
tary of the Interior. The larger part of the equip¬ 
ment of the Observatory will be moved from its 
present location in the Park Naturalist Building 
to the now unused Uwekahuna Museum on the 
rim of Kilauea Crater about 2 miles farther 
west. The museum building will be remodeled 
to house the shop, laboratories, and office of the 
Observatory, which will continue its study of 
volcanic processes, and will serve as a training 
station in connection with the Geological Sur¬ 
vey’s studies of volcanic regions in the Pacific 
and elsewhere. The Volcano Observatory is dedi¬ 
cated to the measurement and observation of 
volcanic behavior and carries on studies in seis¬ 
mology, geomagnetism, chemistry, physics, and 
other fields related to volcanic activity. Students 
of volcanology and local friends of the Observa¬ 
tory will applaud these plans to continue and 
strengthen the work of this scientific institution 
which has been one of the pioneer contributors 
to the understanding of volcanoes during its 
nearly 40 years of existence. 
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory was es¬ 
tablished in 1912 as an outgrowth of prelimi¬ 
nary visits by Dr. T. A. Jaggar and Dr. R. A. 
Daly. The bulk of the interest and support for 
the work before 1912 came from the Massa¬ 
chusetts Institute of Technology, with some col¬ 
laboration by the Geophysical Laboratory of the 
Carnegie Institution and others. Dr. Jaggar was 
the moving spirit in establishing the Observa¬ 
tory in 1912, and was its director from 1912 
until his retirement in 1940. In 1919 the Ob¬ 
servatory was transferred from the Massachu¬ 
setts Institute of Technology to the U. S. 
Weather Bureau, and thence in 1924 to the 
U. S. Geological Survey. In 1935 it was again 
transferred, this time to the National Park Serv¬ 
ice, and thus it came under the administrative 
jurisdiction of the Superintendent of the Hawaii 
National Park, which had been created in 1916. 
During his earlier visits to Hawaii, Dr. Jaggar 
had enlisted the interest of various residents of 
the Territory, and in 1911 the Hawaiian Vol¬ 
cano Research Association was organized. The 
preliminary studies and the regular work of the 
Observatory have had substantial, at times vital, 
support through subscription by various mem¬ 
bers of this local organization. Many of the 
special projects of the Observatory, as well as 
fellowships, special or part-time assistance, and 
expenditures for housing and other equipment 
have been made possible through the continued 
interest and generosity of the Research Associa¬ 
tion. From time to time, the University of Ha¬ 
waii has supported volcanic studies at Kilauea, 
and for a number of years it has maintained two 
buildings near the present Observatory as office 
and laboratory quarters. Since 1940, Dr. Jaggar 
has been Research Associate in Volcanology on 
the University staff and has divided his time 
between Honolulu and Kilauea. 
The office and other facilities of the Ob¬ 
servatory occupied a building located on the 
northeast rim of Kilauea Crater from 1912 until 
1940. There were supplementary buildings 
near-by and over 20 years ago the Research As¬ 
sociation provided a fireproof building to house 
important accumulated records. In the early part 
of 1940, the Volcano House, hotel for visitors 
to the volcano and the Park, was destroyed by 
fire. Plans for a new hotel, developed by Park 
officials, called for its contsruction on ground 
overlapping the existing Observatory, and for a 
new observatory and naturalist building not far 
away. The construction of the latter building 
and the moving of the equipment had not been 
completed when the Pacific war broke out. Be¬ 
cause of its disordered state of incompleted 
moving, the immediate occupation of the partly 
completed Observatory building by various units 
of the armed forces, and the curtailment of nor¬ 
mal Park activities in favor of war work, the 
Observatory had truly a difficult time during 
much of the war period. 
Ruy H. Finch became volcanologist and di¬ 
rector in 1940 after many years of earlier work 
at Kilauea and in related volcano work in Cali¬ 
fornia. With only meager assistance he was 
able to continue the most essential seismometric 
and other observations and in some measure to 
protect the equipment and records against a 
variety of natural enemies and the hazards of 
war-time confusion. From the necessarily low 
level of operation maintained during the war, 
the return to an effective program of study has 
been partly accomplished. It is expected that the 
present transfer to the Geological Survey, with 
its growing program in the Pacific area and its 
fundamental interest in the study of volcanoes, 
will result in a period of renewed growth and 
accomplishment by the Hawaiian Volcano Ob¬ 
servatory .-^—Chester K. Wentworth. 
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