Born in Oahu to Protestant missionary parents, Nathaniel Bright Emerson traveled to Massachusetts for his education, attending Williams College. During the American Civil War, he served in the Union Army's 1st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, during which he was wounded three times. Following the war, he pursued medical studies at Harvard and Columbia University, graduating in 1869. He practiced medicine in New York City, working at Bellevue Hospital and assisting prominent physicians, before returning to Hawaii in 1878.\n\nIn Hawaii, Emerson dedicated much of his life to preserving and translating Hawaiian mythology and cultural history. His literary contributions include translating David Malo's foundational work on Hawaiian lore and customs into English. He also authored Unwritten Literature of Hawaii, published by the Bureau of American Ethnology in 1909, and Pele and Hiiaka, published in 1915, which documented traditional Hawaiian myths and chants.\n\nBeyond his literary and medical pursuits, Emerson was a controversial political figure. He was a founding member of the Hawaiian League of 1887 and was identified as a key contributor to the "Bayonet Constitution," which was forced upon King Kalākaua. He also drew criticism from Hawaiian royalists for testifying in Washington, D.C., in support of the annexation of Hawaii. He died at sea in 1915.
