The articles mainly concern Hawaii, the Society Islands in French Polynesia, New Zealand/Aotearoa, Samoa, Tonga, Pitcairn Island and Fiji. The Juvenile Instructor was published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Salt Lake City. For other publications of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints see also PMB 110 for Improvement Era; and PMB 113 for Contributor.

Zion's Ensign is a weekly publication of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Independence, Missouri. Letters and articles on the Pacific Islands.

Letters and articles on the Pacific Islands. In the period covered the church was active largely in French Polynesia, including Tahiti, Tuamotu Islands, Tuba, as well as the Hawaiian Islands, Samoa, and Tonga. For other publications by the Reorganized Church see also PMB 92, 93 and 100 for The Saints Herald; PMB 94 and 109 for Autumn Leaves; PMB 105 for Journal of History; and PMB 106 for Times and Seasons.

Waller was born on 9 November 1859 in Yorkshire, England. He served as a missionary for the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Hawaii from 1890 until November 1938 when he left for California.

Although described as an autobiography on the title page, this work is actually a history of the Reorganized Church in the Hawaiian Islands, written by Waller. Waller's name figures frequently in the history - in the third person.

Mason was born in New York City on May 8, 1848. He entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1864 and passed the examination for lieutenant on April 2, 1872. On September 1, 1872, he sailed from Philadelphia in the U.S.S. Omaha on a cruise to the Pacific. In Valparaiso, Chile, on February 14, 1873, he transferred to the U.S.S. Pensacola, a surveying vessel. In that ship, he visited other South American ports and arrived in Hawaii on February 13, 1875. After seven months in Hawaiian waters, he returned to the United States.

The journal gives a day-by-day account of Mason's cruise onboard the Omaha and Pensacola, prefaced by an outline of his previous career.