Archives & Manuscripts
Archives & Manuscripts | UH Library | Library Catalog | UH Manoa

A Guide to the Collections

At the UH Archives & Manuscripts Department

Selected Holdings: University Archives

Administration

• Board of Regents
• Chancellor's Office
• President's Office: Collections include the papers of Gregg M. Sinclair, Thomas Hale Hamilton, and Albert Simone, as well as a composite collection of files from multiple presidencies.
• Vice Presidents' and Vice Chancellors' Offices
• David Yount Papers: Dr. Yount was the Vice President for Research and Dean of Graduate Education during the Simone presidency. His papers include research notes on the book, Who Runs the University: The Politics of Higher Education in Hawaii, 1985-1992.
• Willard Wilson Papers: Dr. Wilson, a professor of English at UH, became a vice president and served as acting president for a period of time. His papers focus on his efforts to document the history of UH. Although he did not publish a history, his extensive research notes provide a rich source of information.

Faculty

• Faculty Senate: Faculty Senate records include early Faculty Governance records of the faculty meetings of the College of Hawaii/University of Hawaii, dating from 1908 to the 1920s (with a gap from 1914-1917), and from the 1960s to the present.
• William Alanson Bryan: Dr. Bryan was an early ornithologist at CH/UH, and he also worked at Bishop Museum. His wife, Elizabeth Letson Bryan, was librarian of the College Library. After her death in 1919, Professor Bryan resigned, moved to Los Angeles, and became the director of the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History.
• Maxwell S. Doty: Dr. Doty was a professor of botany who specialized in seaweed. Under his supervision, species were imported to Hawaii for experimentation in aquaculture, some of which have become invasive.
• Thomas A. Jaggar: Dr. Jaggar was a world-famous volcanologist who was one of the early scientists associated with Big Island volcanoes.
• Ben Norris: Dr. Norris is a professor emeritus of art who has had shows in Honolulu and on the Mainland. He has also been very active and visible as a peace activist throughout his life; he was one of the leaders of the anti-Vietnam War movement at UH.
• Shunzo Sakamaki: Dr. Sakamaki received his PhD from Columbia in 1939, and taught history at UH for several years. He is one of the first Japanese-Americans to have earned a doctorate degree.
• Murray Turnbull: Dr. Turnbull, an emeritus professor of art at UH, was deeply involved in the beginnings of the East-West Center, the history of which is documented in his papers.
• Daniel W. Tuttle: Dr. Tuttle was a professor of political science at UH whose papers document his studies of political parties in the U.S. and individual states.
• John Mason Young: Professor Young was the first professor of engineering at the College of Hawaii. His papers include drawings of many business buildings in Hawaii, some railroad bridges on the Big Island, and of UH's Crawford Hall.

Schools, Colleges, Research Institutes, etc.

• College of Continuing Education and Community Service (CCECS): The college sponsored numerous outreach programs to the community, which are documented in these records.
• Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station (HAES): Founded in 1901, the federally sponsored HAES merged with UH's College of Applied Sciences (which included agriculture) in July 1929.
• Romanzo Adams Social Research Laboratory (RASRL): Begun under the direction of Dr. Romanzo Adams, the first professor of sociology at UH, the Laboratory operated from the early 1920s through 1967. During WWII, the Laboratory worked with the US Army martial law government, and was temporarily renamed the War Research Laboratory. The records include extensive files on race relations, cultural organizations, and social problems. Included are examples of student papers concerning various sociological phenomena in Hawaii from the mid-1920s through the 1960s.
• University Library: Records include volumes 7 through 32 of the Library Accession Records, which list the titles of books and periodicals, their source, and cost. Also included are correspondence, subject files, and photographs.

Students

• Associated Students of University of Hawaii (ASUH): This collection includes four scrapbooks that document graduations and student events circa 1907 to 1964.
• Bureau of Student Affairs: Originally under the Office of Student Personnel, the Bureau of Student Affairs kept files on student organizations. Co-Curricular Activities, Programs, and Services (CAPS) now serves this function.
• Graduating Class Photographs: This is an “artificial” collection containing photographs–either composites of individuals or group photos–with examples from 1912 through the early 1930s.
• Lewis David Leflar Student Memorabilia, circa 1933-1935
• Marielouise Abel Senior Year Scrapbook, 1926/1927: The scrapbook contains invitations, announcements for socials and other activities, programs for graduation and baccalaureate services, and photographs.

University Photographs

• Miyamoto Collection: Masao Miyamoto was university photographer from 1936-1977, and continued as a volunteer until he retired 14 years later. His work documents over 50 years of UH history.
• OURD Collection: [Office of University Relations & Development ?]
  • Buildings
  • Campus Aerials, 1910s-1950s
  • Glass Plate Images of Early Manoa Campus, circa 1908-1920s

Selected Holdings: Manuscripts

• Japanese American Veterans Collection (JAVC): This collection documents the rich heritage of Hawaii's AJA veterans and their families. AJA veterans served with distinction in WWII as members of the 100th Infantry Battalion, Hawaii Territorial Guard, Varsity Victory Volunteers, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, 1399th Engineers, and Military Intelligence Service.
• Ronald Stone Anderson Papers: Anderson, who became professor of education at UH, was the Education Officer of I Corps, US Army in Japan, from 1946 to approximately 1950. The papers document his efforts at educational reform in Japan.
• Democratic Party Records: Two collections, a large collection of the statewide organization and a collection from the Oahu County organization, document the party from the late 1950s to the present.
• Hawaii Congressional Papers: This collection comprises the papers of Hawaii delegates to the US Congress from the time of statehood in 1959 to the present. Current holdings include the papers of:
  
  • Senator Hiram Fong
  • Senator Spark Matsunaga
  • Representative Tom Gill
• Hawaii War Records Depository (HWRD): Created by the Territorial Legislature in 1943, the HWRD documents life in Hawaii during WWII, with diaries, letters, published accounts, and copies of governmental agency reports and files, as well as photographs from Honolulu newspapers and other sources.
• Institute of Pacific Relations Records: This international organization working for peaceful reconciliation between nations began in Honolulu, holding its first biennial conference in 1925. In the mid-1930s, the International Secretariat moved from Honolulu to New York City, but the Honolulu group remained active until the McCarthy Era in the early 1950s.

For Additional Information

To learn more about the collections at the Archives & Manuscripts Department at the University of Hawaii Library, please contact:

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