University of Hawaiʻi Committee for the Preservation and Study of Hawaiian Language, Art and Culture records
Scope and Contents
These records are dated from 1959 to 2013 and consist of the project and administrative files of the Committee for the Preservation and Study of Hawaiian Language, Art and Culture (CPSHLAC) as well as miscellaneous files relating to Hawaiʻi and the Hawaiian culture. The project files include correspondence, progress reports, contracts, draft and final publications, and other material that pertain to the projects of the Committee and the projects of applicants, both people and institutions, to which the Committee granted funds. Meanwhile, other files concern administrative matters, particularly the Meetings & Minutes files that contain much information about the projects. In addition, there are miscellaneous files relating to Hawaiʻi and Hawaiian culture that appear not to be Committee files; these may have belonged to Executive Secretary Henry Iwasa whose interests in Hawaiian culture were wide and varied. Much information about projects and grants can be found in the minutes of the Committeeʻs meetings as well as in separate folders for each. More material about the Committee and its projects can be found in the library's catalog.
In the Folder List for the entire collection, the first archival files and the later ones were integrated. For instance, there are 1974 Meetings & Minutes in Box 1 (part of the original processed archives) and in Box 9 (part of the unprocessed donations); these are next to each other in the Folder List. Each folder has a box-folder nunmber. For example, the number 12-5 refers to Box 12.
The processing archivist created an index of names and subjects, based on the Folder List. The locators are the box-folder numbers described above in the Folder List. The Index follows the Folder List. The Index is currently only available in print at the Hawaiian and Pacific Collections reference desk.
Dates
- Creation: 1959 - 2013
Language of Materials
Materials in English and Hawaiian.
Conditions Governing Access
Documents with personal information must be restricted according to law. Such documents are found in many files in this collection. These files must be examined by the archives staff before researchers are allowed to look at them and certain personal information must be redacted.
Biographical / Historical
Senate Bill 1159, Section 1(A), D(A) of the 1959 Territorial Legislature, instituted a program for "the preservation and study of Hawaiian language, art and culture" by appropriating $25,000 and assigning responsibility for the program to the University of Hawaiʻi. Dr. Laurence Snyder, then president of the University, created a committee for this purpose on June 9, 1959, naming the Reverend John H. McDonald as chairman. In 1962, Mr. James H. Shoemaker was appointed chairman upon Father McDonald's transfer to the mainland.
Recognizing that with each passing day some part of our Hawaiian heritage disappears permanently--older generations pass away and historic sites are destroyed by natural forces or new development--the Committee undertook those projects best designed to conserve those aspects of Hawaiʻi's past which might become irrevocably lost to future generations. Surveying and recording archaeological sites, and preserving on tape the language of the Hawaiians as spoken throughout the Hawaiian Chain were among the initial projects of the Committee. Place names, legends, family customs, and chants have been recorded on over 200 miles of tape in the all-island interview program of knowledgeable, elderly Hawaiians. Other projects of the Committee fulfilled the need to preserve for scholars a more complete record of Hawaiʻi's cultural past which included translating and cataloging the taped information, and translating heretofore unpublished material. The Committee published the Pukui-Elbert English-Hawaiian Dictionary (University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1964), the first such major undertaking of its kind since the publication of H.R. Hitchcock's English-Hawaiian Dictionary in 1887.
In 1964, the then president of the University, Thomas H. Hamilton, appointed an ad hoc committee to review the scope of activities of the Committee with the intent of expanding its efforts in this area of vital interest to the peoples of Hawaiʻi, the nation, and the entire Pacific area in compliance with the request embodied in Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 12, Second Legislature. The Review Committee endorsed and strongly urged continuation of support of the program, finding all of the projects important and relevant to the people of the state. Important to its preservation was the dissemination of knowledge and information on Hawaiian language, art and culture.
Photography projects, slides, and filmstrips on topical aspects of Hawaiʻi's cultural past were prepared by the Committee as a means of enriching the curricula of Hawaiʻi's schools. In addition the Committee worked closely with the University's College of Education, the Department of Education Curriculum Center, and other agencies to achieve this end. The Committee maintained a strong interest in training scholars to continue its work. To this end, the Committee strongly endorsed a degree program in Hawaiian Studies with eventual establishment of a chair in the Hawaiian language. In 2007 the Center for Hawaiian Studies, the Center for Hawaiian Language and Ka Papa Loʻi ʻO Kānewai Cultural Garden were joined to become the Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge. It is one of the largest schools of indigenous knowledge in the United States.
CPSHLAC was part of the School of Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies. When the Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge (HSHK) was formed in 2007, CPSHLAC was relocated there. The Committee was dissolved in 2010 when executive secretary Henry Iwasa retired. HSHK continues similar work.
Office space for the Committee and its Recording Laboratory were initially provided, without cost, by the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, whose facilities and personnel were helpful to the completion of many of the Committee's projects. At some point, the office was moved to the UH Mānoa lower campus. In November 1992, it was moved to Hamilton Library and remained there until the Committee was dissolved.
Extent
22 Linear Feet
Overview
The University of Hawaiʻi Committee for the Preservation and Study of Hawaiian Language, Art and Culture (CPSHLAC) was mandated by Hawaiʻi's final Territorial Legislature in 1959, just before statehood, in order to preserve Hawaiian culture. The committee was composed of members whose interests, concerns, and expertise reflected knowledge of the many and varied aspects of Hawaiian culture. The members included academic scholars and community leaders. The former were drawn from the University itself and the Bishop Museum, the latter from prominent local businesses. Non-native Hawaiians, as well as native Hawaiians were called to serve.
The heart of this collection is comprised of the project files. CPSHLAC granted funds to applicants, people and institutions, and the Committee instigated some projects of its own. These files may contain correspondence, progress reports, contracts, draft and final publications and other material.
Other files concern administrative matters, the most useful of which are the Meetings and Minutes files containing much information about the projects.
There are miscellaneous files relating to Hawaiʻi and Hawaiian culture that appear not to be Committee files; these may have belonged to Executive Secretary Henry Iwasa whose interests in Hawaiian culture were wide and varied.
Custodial History
In 1992, consultants were contracted by the Committee for the Preservation and Study of Hawaiian Language, Art and Culture (CPSHLAC) to organize its records up to that date and create an arrangement scheme so that material could be found easily. These files were kept by the executive secretary. They were donated to the Hawaiian Collection of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library when the Committee was dissolved in 2010. Also donated at that time was material accumulated after 1992.
Processing Information
The consultants contracted by CPSHLAC to organize its records up to 1992 and create an arrangement scheme according to two numbered series in the classification scheme created for this project: Administration (classification A) and Projects (B). Duplicates were removed and files were placed in labeled archival folders according to the scheme. This scheme can be found in box 12, folder 16 (Projects, Dated: FY92-22 and FY92-23).
In 2010, the records were donated to the Hawaiian Collection of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library, including the previously processed records and material accumulated after 1992. This was processed by Ellen Chapman, C.A., who placed the files in archival boxes. The records up until 1992 are now in CPSHLAC boxes 1-7, while the post-1992 files now occupy CPSHLAC boxes 8-17. Some of this material is duplicated in boxes 1-7.
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the University of Hawaii at Manoa Libraries Repository