This study utilizes a number of source materials to examine the story of the development of the macadamia nut industry in Hawaii. Traditional archival materials (documents, letters, journals and business records) do not reveal the entire story concerning the macadamia nut industry. Although these and publications by the Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station and the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawaii are used extensively, this study also relies on newspaper reports and oral interviews to bring all the dimensions regarding the commercial development of the industry to the reader's attention.