PU'UNENE, Maui — An informal effort to collect the names of those who lived in the once-thriving plantation camps that spread from Hamakuapoko to Kihei is gathering steam with the approach of two major events celebrating Maui's agricultural heritage.

The Plantation Camp Registry was started years ago by Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum director Gaylord Kubota, who set up a display of maps identifying the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. and Maui Agricultural Co. camps alongside registry forms in case former camp residents or their descendants happened to drop by the Pu'unene institution.

So far, about 300 names have been added to the registry, a small percentage of the thousands who lived in camps in Pu'unene, Spreckelsville, Pa'ia, Hamakuapoko and Kihei, said museum assistant director Paula Loomis.

It is not known how many people over the years lived in the nearly 70 camps, some of which were identified simply by a number and others by names that described their location or inhabitants, such as Sam Sing Camp, Russian Camp, Hawaiian Camp, Cod Fish Row, Store Camp and Hospital Camp.

The Hawaii Sugar Manual, published in 1939, reported an HC&S plantation population of 7,973, and a Maui Agricultural Co. plantation census of about 6,500. Each company reported occupancy of about 1,500 employee houses.

The museum often receives calls from people in and outside the Islands who are searching for information on their family history, or from former camp residents trying to find old friends, Loomis said.

"People have a real affinity for their roots and remembering their old neighbors and the families that grew up there with them. It's a very strong bond," she said.

Kahului resident Marie (Andrade) Achi, 68, lived in Haole Camp with her parents and four sisters from the 1940s to the 1960s.

Her father and grandfather were both supervisors at the HC&S mill. She said Pu'unene was a teeming center of commerce, recreation and community life.

"We didn't feel poor. Everybody seemed equal, and in those days there weren't TVs. We didn't have to go anywhere. There was a theater, a bakery, a gym, two swimming pools. There was so much to do right in Pu'unene," she said. "And we always felt safe. Everybody would be there to help each other."

The Plantation Camp Registry forms ask for the names of residents and the camps where they lived, house numbers, dates of occupancy, and information on neighbors and other aspects of camp life. Loomis said museum officials are just beginning to sort through the information already received so that it can be compiled into a searchable electronic database available to historical researchers and the public.

The registry will make its public debut Aug. 4 at the fifth annual Maui Sugar Plantation Festival, where more folks with camp ties will be encouraged to sign up.

The festival coincides with the Pu'unene Reunion to be held Aug. 3 to 5.

Achi, one of the organizers of the Pu'unene Reunion, said the last one in 1983 drew 3,000 participants, and it's likely there won't be another major reunion after this year's event.

Loomis hopes that alone will provide more incentive for former camp residents to join the registry.

"People want to be remembered, they want to be part of a record that shows they existed, that they were here," Loomis said. "And they deserve to be remembered because they played a huge role in the history of this state."

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.