Sheldon Dibble (1809–1845) was an American missionary. Public information about his early life and education is limited, and his life is known chiefly through his activities in Hawaii. There he founded and ran schools and worked as an educator, while also collecting materials and writing a history of Hawaii, making him one of the earlier missionaries to record the local history in writing. His representative work, Thoughts on Missions, deals with missionary enterprise and reflects his thinking and views on missionary work. Because few sources survive, he is known today mainly through his educational work, his historical writing, and this book. His teaching and writing had a certain documentary and disseminating significance within the missionary context of his time, offering later readers a reference for understanding early Hawaiian history and missionary activity.
