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.
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.
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