HWST 107: Resources
Nā Puke Wehewehe (Dictionaries)
Use Hawaiian Dictionaries online to look up Hawaiian words.
Or, check out the following dictionaries from the Library:
Hawaiian Dictionary by Call Number: PL6446 .P795 1991
Nā Puke (Books)
Below is a selection of books on Hawaiian culture and history. There are lots of other resources in the library so be sure to search in OneSearch and/or contact a librarian for research help.
Note: When reading these titles, be sure to pay attention to any footnotes or references that may lead you to other useful resources on your topic.
Fornander Collection of Hawaiian Antiquities and Folk-Lore by Call Number: GR110.H38 F67
Fragments of Hawaiian History by Call Number: DU407.I4
Ka Poʻe Kahiko The People of Old by Call Number: DU624.5 .K3
The Works of the People of Old Na Hana a ka Poʻe Kahiko by Call Number: DU624.65 .K35
Unwritten Literature of Hawaii: the sacred songs of the hula by Call Number: PL6448 .E6 1965
ʻŌlelo Noʻeau by Call Number: PN6519.H4 P84 1983
Resources available through the Library
Use Primo Search to search for books, articles, and media (videos, DVDs & CDs) on your topic. This searches mostly everything available through the library.
Remember to try different keywords and combinations of keywords to help in your searches. You may also want to try searching in English and ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi - depending on your topic, this may give you different search results.
Find Resources Online
Use the following databases to search for Hawaiian newspapers available online.
Ulukau: The Hawaiian Electronic Library
A digitized collection of books, newspapers, genealogical indexes, and curriculum resources in Hawaiian and in English.
Papakilo Database
Includes various collections related to historically and culturally significant places, events, and documents in Hawaiʻi's history. Includes digitized archival records, including Māhele land documents, genealogy indexes, reports (e.g. SHPD), and over 58,000 pages of Hawaiian language newspapers. Papakilo allows you to search in a number of ways, including: Location, Genealogy, Mahele Records, or Newspapers.
Hawai‘i's official archive for historic film and video filmed in, or about, Hawaiʻi. Search or browse their digitized collections and watch clips online. Then, if you'd like to see the full video for any clips, contact the archive at uluulu@hawaii.edu and they'll send you a private link to the streaming video online (note: this service is free!).
Bishop Museum's Ethnology Database
Includes more than 70,000 objects from throughout Hawai‘i and the Pacific region. Photographs and detailed information are available for more than 2,000 objects online
Maps, Aerial Photos, and GIS (MAGIS)
Over 200,000 maps, with emphasis of Hawaiʻi, Asia, and the Pacific.
Kipuka Database
A geographical information system (GIS) that utilizes the latest mapping technologies to provide a window into native Hawaiian land, culture and history. Kipuka links historic data sets to geographic locations. This database was created by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
Find info on an Akua
Looking for resources about akua? Here are a few resources to help you get started with finding general information:
1) Ulukau
Provides a wealth of resources, including eBooks. As just one example, it includes Resource Units in Hawaiian Culture, which has an entire chapter on religion - see Chapter 7 Unit 7: Religious Beliefs and Practices (Pages 69-90).
2) Kumukahi
Provides general background info on akua and other topics on Hawaiian culture.
- Once on the website, click "Explore" in the navigation menu at the top. Then, on the page that loads, click "Ke Ao Akua" to view a list of akua and other related topics of interest (see screenshot below).
This is another good place to start as it provides an index of resources on akua. The Index is available at the library and online. The index lists moʻolelo that an akua is featured in and the book(s) that those moʻolelo are captured in - giving you the exact page numbers to look at within any given book. In the online version, start with the Subject Browse or Search for the akua you're interested in.
- Note: The Index is a starting point - once you find a moʻolelo you're interested in, the next step will be to get that book (either online or to borrow from the library) so that you can read the moʻolelo itself; note: the nice thing about the online version is it includes a link to the book if it is available online.
Created for the HWST 270: Hawaiian Mythologies course, this guide provides tips and resources for researching akua. It also includes a list of commonly used books for research on akua.
If you still have any questions after reviewing the above resources and/or would like to do further research in this area, please don't hesitate to ask a Librarian for research assistance.
Streaming Videos
The following streaming videos are available online 24/7 for UHMC students, faculty, and staff with UH login.
Please note that it may take a few minutes to load the video.
Keepers of the Flame: The Legacy of Three Hawaiian Women
This is the story of three extraordinary Hawaiian women who helped revive Hawaiian culture when it was perilously close to being lost. Each planted seeds of the Hawaiian cultural renaissance. Mary Kawena Pukui as a history and language expert, teacher and author, ‘lolani Luahine as a chanter, cultural icon and ‘high priestess of hula’ and Edith Kanaka’ole as a songwriter, teacher and founder of the traditional school of hula, Halau O Kekuhi.
Act of War: The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Nation
This hour-long documentary is a provocative look at a historical event of which few Americans are aware. In mid-January, 1893, armed troops from the U.S.S. Boston landed at Honolulu in support of a treasonous coup d'etat against the constitutional sovereign of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Queen Lili'uokalani. Stylized re-enactments, archival photos and film, political cartoons, historic quotes, and presentations by Hawaiian scholars tell Hawaiian history through Hawaiian eyes.
Noho Hewa: the wrongful occupation of Hawaiʻi
A critical look at the relationships between the presence of the U.S. military in Hawaiʻi, development, and the alienation of Hawaiians from land and political power.
Then there were None
More than half a million native Hawaiians were living in the islands at the time of European contact in 1778. Within 50 years, that population was cut in half as Western diseases claimed thousands of lives. A litany of events followed: American missionaries preached unfamiliar ideas and customs; sugarcane and pineapple plantations absorbed individual farmlands; waves of immigrant workers arrived, making Hawaiians a minority in their own land; and WWII brought a lasting military presence.
Ho'ala Awakening (Hawai'I Sovereignty)
A 17 minutes capsulated history of the Hawaiian people from pre-Paʻao to the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani establishing the motivation and need for the struggle for Hawaiian rights.
Mauna Kea: Temple Under Siege
Although the mountain volcano Mauna Kea last erupted around 4000 years ago, it is still hot today, the center of a burning controversy over whether its summit should be used for astronomical observatories or preserved as a cultural landscape sacred to the Hawaiian people. For five years Na Maka o ka Aina captured on video the seasonal moods of Mauna Kea’s unique 14,000-foot summit environment, the richly varied ecosystems that extend from sea level to alpine zone, the legends and stories that reveal the mountain's geologic and cultural history, and the political turbulence surrounding the efforts to protect the most significant temple in the islands, the mountain itself. Mauna Kea – Temple Under Siege paints a portrait of a mountain that has become a symbol of the Hawaiian struggle for physical, cultural and political survival. The program explores conflicting forces as they play themselves out in a contemporary island society where cultures collide daily.
Citing Sources
Citations can feel tedious sometimes but it is important to credit the sources you use in your research. Not to worry, there are resources to help you. Review the Citing Sources guide to get started with citation basics and style guides.
HWST 107 Librarian
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