You might be surprised by what is one of the top features in The Advertiser these days, the one that consistently ranks among the 10 stories that get the most hits on our Web site. It's The Advertiser's 150th anniversary feature called "The History of Today." Each day, it tells us about important events that occurred in Hawai'i on that date.

To know that readers will eagerly turn to news that's up to 150 years old makes me feel good. It means that we are still concerned about who we are and where we've been. It means that our history still has value to us.

One reason for its popularity is that the feature is well done by Anne Harpham, a senior editor, who knows a good story and how to tell it. Yet it's gratifying to find that readers will take time out from rock stars and the war in Iraq and the Washington merry-go-round to contemplate the past.

Maybe people turn to "The History of Today" as a refuge from the mess our nation is in. But I don't think that's the appeal of this feature. I think people are learning something. It's usually a surprise to find that history keeps repeating itself. The good old days really weren't that good, just different.

You think our sewer system is giving us problems? Go back to 1900 before we had sewers. It's all in the paper. The flooding we've been through certainly ranks as a disaster. But consider the Chinatown fire coupled with bubonic plague. Chinese were fighting insurance companies years later.

Somehow, we also tend to forget the really good things that happened. It's politically correct today to look upon the plantation days as rife with prejudice against Asians. It's true that there were examples of brutal treatment. But the aloha spirit was in operation.

Right up to World War I, all newspapers in Hawai'i gave prominent coverage to festivals celebrating the birthday of the Japanese emperor and the start of the Chinese new year. Some plantations gave days off. It was war hysteria that infected the minds of people in Hawai'i and led to an attempted ban on Asian language schools.

Newspapers are the first telling of history, different from legends and myths because they remain the way they were written, not altered by memory or political pressure. That's why old newspapers are so puzzling. They were written at a different time in a different context. It's why many kids don't understand their grandparents.

To understand what you are reading, you must be familiar with the times. Not just anybody can write "The History of Today." To make the feature understandable and interesting, Harpham has to recognize stories that relate to what's happening to you now. That's what she has done for you.

My hunch is that the reason "The History of Today" gets so many online hits day after day is that it gives readers a hint of how much history has to teach us and how much fun it is to learn.

Reach Bob Krauss at 525-8073.