Hawaiʻi - Land Tenure Locating Māhele Records: Step 3: Retrieve LCA records

Once you have all the LCA numbers you are researching and have identified any registers and testimonies with those LCAs, your next step is to retrieve images of the LCA records either online, on microfilm or in print. The LCA records you are looking for are the following documents: register and testimonies (either native or foreign), LCA award (if awarded) and royal patent (if obtained). To easily find these records, review the Research Strategies in the next column.

Finding images
The original LCA documents are available in bound volumes at the Hawaiʻi State Archives. They were microfilmed in the 1960s-1970s and the images from the microfilms are now available online through various databases.

• Start with the GIS database Kipuka (tutorial). It has many LCA documents mapped and you will be able to see where the LCA parcels are located. 
• If you do not find anything in Kipuka, the LCA may not be mapped or it may not have been awarded, and thus not mapped. Go then, to the database Papakilo (tutorial) and to retrieve the LCA documents as this database has them all.
• If you do not find anything in Kipuka or Papakilo, go then to the microfilm.

Finding translations
The native registers and testimonies, the LCA awards and Royal Patents are written in Hawaiian. Some foreign registers and testimonies are also in Hawaiian but many are in English. The Hawaiʻi State Archives has translated many of these land documents. The translations they have done are available in print at the Hawaiʻi State Archives and some are available online and on microfilm.

• Online
  • Translations of the registers and testimonies are available for a fee* through the database Waihona (tutorial)
  • Translations of the native testimony are available for free in the database AvaKonohiki (tutorial)
• Microfilm
  • Translations of the native register are available on microfilm.
• Print
  • Translations of the registers and testimonies are available at the Hawaiʻi State Archives.

Finding transcriptions
The original LCA documents were all handwritten and recorded in bound volumes. Transcriptions of the Land Commission Awards are available through the database Avakonohiki. Transcriptions of the foreign registers and testimonies are available in Waihona. Transcriptions of the native registers and testimonies are not available.

*IMPORTANT NOTE: If you a UHM patron, the Hawaiian Collection may purchase up to 5 documents from Waihona as long as you are doing a Māhele-related course assignment or research project. If you are a non-UHM patron, you have to pay Waihona directly to access documents.

Hamilton Library has the following microfilms of LCA original documents

• Land Commission Awards
• Native Registers
• Native Registers Translations
• Native Testimonies
• Foreign Registers
• Foreign Testimonies
• Royal Patents