Latest News
April 15, 2021
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs celebrates the 10-year anniversary of the Papakilo Database by kicking off a monthly webinar series focusing on the valuable collections that are hosted in this comprehensive "Database of Databases." The Papakilo Database not only culls records from various community archive collections, but it makes them searchable and accessible to users around the world.
Join us for our first webinar installment on April 16, from 12pm - 1 pm or April 19 from 6:30pm - 7:30pm, as we give an overview of the Papakilo Database and provide a short tutorial and training.
Please CLICK HERE to register prior to logging on for the webinar and we look forward to you join us on April 16th or April 19th.
April 4, 2021
The Papakilo Database celebrates its 10-year anniversary by hosting a 10 month series of webinars that will feature various collections hosted within Papakilo and prove best research practices when using the database. We hope that you will be able join us to learn more about the Papakilo Database and its valuable collections that can assist in your research. Here are the webinar dates and topics:
Papakilo Database - General Intro & Training
April 16, Friday – 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
April 19, Monday - 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Kīpuka Collection - OHAʻs GIS Database
May 14, Friday – 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
May 17, Monday - 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM
ʻUluʻulu Digital Moving Archive Collections
June 25, Friday – 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
June 28, Monday - 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Awaiaulu – Hawaiian Language Newspaper Collection
July 16, Friday – 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
July 19, Monday - 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Awaiaulu – Aliʻi Letter Collection and Hawaiian National Bibliographies
August 6, Friday – 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
August 9, Monday - 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Papakilo Database – Genealogy Research
Sept. 10, Friday – 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Sept. 13, Monday - 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Hula Preservation Society Collections
Oct. 18, Monday - 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Oct. 22, Friday - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
November - January Webinars: TBD
December 8, 2020
First and foremost, mahalo for using the Papakilo Database. Since our public launch on April 4, 2011, we have steadily grown through the collaboration and trust of our partners, providing access to 65 unique collections and (now) over 1,000,000 records.
I invite you to join me in celebrating Papakiloʻs upcoming 10-year anniversary by sharing a personal Success Story of your Papakilo experience. These stories or testimonies can recount how a single collection or a combination of collections have resulted in the reconnection or discovery of family members, Kuleana Tax Exemption awards, or provided assistance in reports, genealogy research, land title research, and/or historical research.
If you would like to participate, need assistance, or have questions, please email papakilodatabase@gmail.com. For those willing to participate, we ask that you send in your commitment by December 23rd. Thank you for your true over the years and I look forward to hearing form you soon.
November 16, 2020 - We are excited to announce the completion of our Search by Location update. This upgrade includes the integration of an interactive map that allows users to scroll and zoom in and out on specific locations. We hope that you will find this upgrade useful and user friendly when conducting your Search by Location queries. Mahalo nui to Papakilo’s database design contractor, DL Consulting, and OHAʻs GIS specialist, Zack Smith, for their hard work and dedication to seeing this through.
September 24, 2020 - In partnership with Papakiloʻs database design contractor, DL Consulting, we have now completed updating the Search by Collection and Advanced Search pages. This update maximizes the space to highlight the collections while presenting a more user friendly interface. Feel free to utilize these pages when refining your searches to get specific and more accurate results.
September 9, 2020 - In partnership with the Hula Preservation Society (HPS), select items from the Alama Collection in the HPS Archive have been uploaded and are now searchable in the Papakilo Database. The 199 records include audio clips, photographs, and papers that provide insight into the noteworthy talent, outstanding dedication, and remarkable careers of Kumu Hula sisters Leilani and Puanani Alama.
August 26, 2020 - In partnership with the Hawaiʻi State Archives, we are pleased to announce that the Names Index is now accessible within the Papakilo Database, Originally stored in a card catalog system at the archives, this digitized collection of 110,706 records identifies and provides summaries of Hawaiʻi residents whose name(s) were mentioned in various publications throughout Hawaiʻi’s history.
April 6, 2020 - In partnership with the Bishop Museum's Archaeology Department, the Hawaiian Fauna Specimen Index is now accessible within the Papakilo Database, This collection of 765 records details Bishop Museum’s specimens collection and includes information about fish and mammals.
February 14, 2020 - In partnership with the Bishop Museum's Archives, the Hawaiian Ethnobotany Database is now accessible within the Papakilo Database, This collection contains over 190 records pertaining to the scientific and cultural research and documentation of Hawaiʻi’s indigenous plants.
January 5, 2020 - In partnership with the Bishop Museum's Archives Department, the Hawaiian Ethnological Notes (HEN) Collection, consisting of 232 records of Hawaiian language material that have been translated or summarized, primarily by Mary Kawena Pukui. This material includes selected articles that appear in the Hawaiian Language newspapers published between the 1860's and the 1940's. Additional material was also translated by Thomas G. Thrum.
December 18, 2019 - In partnership with the Hawaiʻi Mission Houses’ Archive and DL Consulting, the remaining collections of Hawai'i Mission Houses' Digital Archive are now searchable and accessible within the Papakilo Database. This includes the additions of the Ali'i Letter, Missionary Journals, Missionary Letters, Missionary Reports, Negatives/Film, Other, Photo & Portraits, The Friend (newspaper), Quilt, and Wilcox collections which accounts for an additional 36,887 records, bringing the total collection to 51,232 records. Mahalo to Hawai'i Mission Houses and DL Consulting for their hard work in providing this connection.
November 25, 2019 - In partnership with the Washington Place Foundation, the Lili'uokalani Digital Archive is now accessible within the Papakilo Database. This collection contains approx. 680 records of documents, images, and newspaper articles and translations, from Washington Place's Lili'uokalani collection.
November 22, 2019 - In partnership with the Hawaiʻi Mission Houses’ Archive and DL Consulting, the Missionary Herald Newspaper collection is now accessible within the Papakilo Database. This collection adds approx. 36,000 pages of the Missionary Herald to the Hawai’i Mission Houses Archive collection.
November 15, 2019 - In partnership with the Hawaiʻi Mission Houses’ Archive and DL Consulting, the Hawaiian Almanac, Hawaiian Journal of History, Manuscript Collection Finding Aids and The Polynesian Newspaper collections are now accessible within the Papakilo Database. This collection contains approx. 950 records and will be increasing in the near future with the addition of the Digital Archive Collection and The Missionary Newspaper collection.
October 17, 2019 - In partnership with the Bishop Museum, the Louis R. Sullivan Collection is now accessible within the Papakilo Database. This collection contains over 950 portraits and photographs of Native Hawaiians from 1920 - 1921.
September 6, 2019 - In partnership with the Bishop Museum, the John F.G. Stokes collection is now accessible within the Papakilo Database. This collection contains various surveys and maps, documenting Hawaiian archaeological sites, cultural features, and landscapes on the islands of Hawai'i, Moloka'i, O'ahu, Kaua'i and Kaho'olawe, with photography and mapping techniques from 1906 - 1913.
June 27, 2019 - In partnership with Awaiaulu, and with the help of Charissa Waialae, a brand new collection entitled East Coast Repositories is now available for access within the Papakilo Database, located within Collections Outside of Hawai'i Collection. This body of work includes images, translations and summaries of correspondence that are housed within Harvard University, the Essex Museum, the National Archives and the Library of Congress.
April 24, 2018 - To ensure that we continue to address users' needs and meet expectations, we humbly ask for your assistance by taking 5-10 minutes to fill out this short 8 question survey. Please Click Here to go to the survey. Mahalo in advance for assisting us in trying to make a better resource for everyone to use. We will close this survey on May 25th, 2018
August 23, 2017 - In partnership with Awaiaulu, the Ali'i Letters Collection is now available for access within the Papakilo Database. This collection includes images, translations and summaries of correspondence between and with Ali'i from the 1820's - 1840's.
August 21, 2017 - In partnership with the Bishop Museum, the Henry E.P Kekahuna Collection and Bishop Museum's Government and Governance Collections are now available for access within the Papakilo Database.
May 1, 2017 - In partnership with the Hula Preservation Society, the Vivienne Huapala Mader collection of photos is now available for search on the Papakilo Database.
February 3, 2016 - With the support of Greenstone contractor, DL Consulting Ltd., the Papakilo Database now provides Google results based off of your queried search terms. This will not only increase the number of search results, but also provide you with an increased potential of finding exactly what you are looking for.
July 17, 2015 - In partnership with Awaiaulu, Ulukau and DL Consulting Ltd., OHA has completed Phase II of our newspaper digitization project. The Papakilo Database now has over 58,600 digitized pages from 48 newspapers, resulting in almost 380,000 articles from 1834 - 1937. Phase III will focus on integrating with Ulukau to represent a consistent and comprehensive newspaper collection, available through both the Ulukau and the Papakilo Database websites.
April 24, 2015 - In partnership with the Hawai'i State Archives, the Land Card Catalog Index Collection at the State Archives is now available for digital search on the Papakilo Database.
April 8, 2015 - In partnership with UH West O'ahu, Papakilo now provides search capability of 'Ulu'ulu, The Henry Ku'ualoha Giugni Moving Image Archive of Hawai'i, the official archive for moving images in the State of Hawai'i. This collaboration will provide access to the following collections: Juniroa Productions, KGMB Archives, Victoria Keith Productions, HKG Pilot Project and Ted Shibuya Collections.
Feb. 18, 2015 - In partnership with David Forbes, Awaiaulu and the University of Hawai'i Press, the Papakilo Database now provides access to all four volumes of David Forbes' Hawaiian National Bibliography.
Sept. 11, 2014 - The Papakilo Database has just made available a Whaling ship database, through our partnership with the Bishop Museum covering ships departing Honolulu from the 1840's to the 1890's. Mahalo to our partner, Bishop Museum, as well as Melenani Waialae and DL Consulting for formatting and uploading this valuable piece of information.
April 4, 2011 - OHA officially launches the Papakilo Database
