Photograph showing four Hawaiian women playing musical instruments and dancing outside at Punch Bowl Mountain in Honolulu. The women wear their long hair down and are attired in flower leis around the crown of their heads and around their necks, white chemise shirts, and skirts. Two women sit holding a gourd and a guitar. Behind them, two women stand with their left arms out as they dance the hula., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1901, by B. L. Singley., Text printed on verso: We here see a group of hula dancers, with leis of fragrant leaves and flowers crowning their heads and cast about their necks, a very pretty custom of the Hawaiians, especially worn on festive occasions. The hula hula has always been a feature of court festivities and also a common entertainment of the islanders, often danced in the lanai or open parlor of the home. The ancient hula was not danced to the accompaniment of musical instruments but rhythmic measures muttered by old men who kept time by striking a gourd; in the modern version of the dance, the lissom dancers, trained from childhood to delight the senses, sway their graceful figures to the music of the flute, guitar and other stringed instuments and the beat of the tom-tom. The white chemise and airy skirt with garlands about head and shoulders and sometimes ankle decorations form the dress of the dusky hula girls. This view was taken in the crater of Punch Bowl Mountain, an extinct volcano., Keystone View Company was founded in 1892 by B.L. Singley, an amateur photographer from Meadville, Pennsylvania. Keystone View Company was the leader in promoting stereographs for educational purposes. In 1912 the company purchased rights to some Underwood & Underwood negatives for use in educational sets, and in 1922 purchased the remaining stock of Underwood materials. The company remained in business until 1970.
Creator
Keystone View Company
Date
1901
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Keystone View Company - Portraits & Genre [P.2014.12.5]
