Professional Visits

ʻUluʻulu: The Henry Kuʻualoha Giugni Moving Image Archive of Hawaiʻi is the official state archive for moving images located on the University of Hawai‘i West O‘ahu campus in the James and Abigail Campbell Library. The archive is comprised of over 60,000 videotapes and motion picture film reels about Hawaiʻi from the 1920s – 2000s.

ʻUluʻulu (which means collections, assembly, or gathering) is dedicated to the care and preservation of film, video and audio recordings related to the history and culture of Hawaiʻi. The archive is more than just collections, it is also an assembly of voices, communities, and stories; a gathering place for people to share Hawaiʻi’s culture, traditions and collective memory.

Attendees will meet archivists and media specialists from ‘Ulu‘ulu to learn about their work and special projects. The tour includes the archives' public exhibits, digitization lab, processing space, and vault.

https://uluulu.westoahu.hawaii.edu/

Join us for a visit to the Bishop Museum Library & Archives, home to one of the most significant collections of cultural and historical materials related to Hawai‘i and the Pacific. This presentation will include an overview of the museum’s pioneering work in ethnomusicological and audiovisual documentation, including early cylinder, disc, and tape recordings. Participants will also hear digitized selections from historic recordings and learn how the institution’s legacy has shaped its collections and preservation efforts.

Founded in 1889, the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum is Hawaiʻi’s preeminent institution for the preservation and study of Native Hawaiian and Pacific cultures and natural history. Its Library & Archives—originating with the personal collections of Hawaiian royalty—now holds internationally significant materials including manuscripts, maps, photographs, early printed texts in Pacific languages, and the most extensive collection of Hawaiian-language newspapers in the world. For decades, the Museum also played a critical role in ethnomusicological and audiovisual research, documenting Hawaiian mele (songs), oli (chants), oral histories, and traditional practices.

During this professional visit, participants will receive a historical overview of the Museum’s audiovisual collecting practices, and learn how its role as the oldest museum in Hawai‘i positioned it to preserve some of the earliest surviving sound and moving image materials in the region. The presentation will include digitized selections from legacy formats such as wax cylinders, discs, and magnetic tape, with featured recordings of Hawaiian cultural figures such as Kuluwaimaka and Mary Kawena Pukui. The session will also touch on the challenges of media preservation in Hawai‘i’s climate and the current stewardship of Bishop Museum’s audiovisual holdings.

A behind-the-scenes tour of the unique collections held by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library. You'll view treasures in each collection highlighted and meet some of our amazing librarians and archivists. These collections are internationally recognized for the depth and breadth of the holdings.

The tour includes:

• University Archives and Manuscripts (Hawaiʻi Congressional Papers Collection),
• Asia Collection (covers China, Japan, Korea, Okinawa, Philippines, Russian Northeast Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia),
• Hawaiian and Pacific Collections (including Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia)
• Jean Charlot and Archive of Hawai‘i Artists & Architects
• Library Audiovisual collections

https://manoa.hawaii.edu/library/research/collections/

Join us for a visit to the Jaku’an Tea House in the Seien Japanese Garden, where the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa has taught thousands of students the art of the Japanese tea ceremony for the last half century. This authentic tea house was first constructed in Japan and reassembled in its current location in 1972 after Genshitsu Sen, a 15th generation grand tea master commissioned the building.

The Urasenke (裏千家) tea ceremony is one of the three major schools of Japanese tea ceremonies derived directly from the 16th Century tea master Sen no Rikyū.

In the early 1980s, a handful of Native Hawaiian students enrolled at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa uncovered the remnants of an ancient ‘auwai (irrigation ditch) in bushes alongside Mānoa stream.

They discovered that this land, called Kānewai, was highly valued for its kalo productivity even before Kamehameha conquered O‘ahu and remained a royal possession for a long period of time. The site was later cultivated by farmers of Chinese and Japanese ancestry, before becoming part of the landscape of the university where it was forgotten.

Today, there are a variety of native and indigenous trees and shrubs growing along the stream and low-lying slopes. Ka Papa Loʻi ʻo Kānewai sustains a thriving taro patch that shares its resources with the community. It is a piko (connection) for Hawaiian Knowledge at the University of Hawaiʻi.

KTUH (90.1 MHz) was Hawaiʻi's first non-commercial FM station. It signed on the air on July 7, 1969 and is a student-run, listener-supported station. It is owned by the University of Hawaiʻi  and it broadcasts from studios on the campus at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

The tour will be given by Kimo Nichols, a long-time DJ and host of the"Dawn Patrol Echo Chamber" - the best in boss Jamaican music, with heavy emphasis on the years 1968-1985.

The station also features prominently in the 2025 PBS Hawaiʻi program “In Hawaiian Hands: The Story of Reggae in Hawaiʻi” (Part I)  which traces the popularity and evolution of reggae in the Islands, from roots to the Jawaiian era, the precursor to today’s island music.

Top photo credit: Cory Lum, Civil Beat