About this guide
Aloha kākou! This guide was created for people considering doing research in the archives of Hawaiʻiʻs post-statehood (post-1959) members of the U.S. Congress. If you have zero experience with congressional papers, and zero experience with archives research, then you are in the right place! This guide will walk you though through the sequence of steps below:
- Begin with secondary research: Get oriented to your topic. Understanding the big picture will help you contextualize the small details youʻll find in the congressional collections.
- Gather key information: Information like time period, names of federal agencies, and specific legislation can be entry points into your congressional papers research.
- Identify relevant archival material: Use the ArchivesSpace database to explore our finding aids (collection guides) and identify boxes and folders that may be relevant to your research.
- Request material from the archives: Let us know what boxes youʻd like to review, and weʻll retrieve them for you.
- Visit the archives to review material: Visit us in UH Mānoa's Hamilton Library to review your material.
About the Hawaiʻi Congressional Papers Collection
The Hawaiʻi Congressional Papers Collection (HCPC) comprises the papers of Hawaiʻiʻs members of Congress from statehood in 1959 to the present. These include the papers of U.S. Senator Hiram L. Fong, U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye, U.S. Senator Spark M. Matsunaga, U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka, U.S. Representative Thomas P. Gill, U.S. Representative Patricia F. Saiki, U.S. Representative Neil Abercrombie, U.S. Representative Ed Case, and U.S. Representative Kaialiʻi Kahele. The papers of Representatives Case and Kahele and the papers of Senator Akaka are currently closed to the public.
Small collections of papers and memorabilia from Territorial Delegate John A. Burns, U.S. Senator Oren E. Long, U.S. Representative Patsy Mink, and U.S. Representative K. Mark Takai are also housed in the collection, as well as a small collection of born-digital material from U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard.
What you can find in congressional papers collections
Members of congress do not work alone. They are supported by staff in their Washington, DC, and district offices. Congressional papers collections represent the archives in both of these offices, including the files of individual staff members. You can think of congressional papers collections like the offices' file cabinets and network drives. Depending on how long the member of Congress served, their archives could comprise over a thousand boxes of paper and many terabytes of data. Congressional collections can include formats such as paper, email, maps, photographs, archived websites, analog and digital video, and selected memorabilia. They can include documentation such as schedules, speeches, public relations files, correspondence, legislative research, briefing materials, and constituent case files.
Congressional papers collections are not limited to documentation about lawmaking. In addition to working on legislation, congressional offices assist constituents and state and local government agencies and organizations in their interactions with federal agencies. Examples include individuals seeking assistance in securing Small Business Administration disaster assistance loans, local nonprofits applying for U.S. Department of Education funding for language and education programs, a cultural heritage organization applying to get a site listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and nonprofits and state agencies partnering to steward cultural sites in accordance with U.S. Department of Transportation cultural impact mitigation regulations. Congressional collections document these types of activities as well.
Are the Hawaiʻi congressional papers are relevant to your research?
If you are researching a post-1959 political topic--including national and international topics--that has any kind of federal dimension (e.g., federally funded, subject to federal laws and regulations, relating to federally managed lands, relating to federal agencies) then itʻs likely that you will find relevant materials in the Hawai'i Congressional Papers Collection. Subjects that are especially well documented in the collections include land, agriculture, tourism, the military, Native Hawaiian health and education, federal recognition and reparations, civil rights issues, maritime issues, U.S. policy in Asia and the Pacific, and healthcare.
Examples of topics that researchers have investigated in the congressional collections include
- Federal apologies to AANHPI communities
- Hawaiʻi's transition from agriculture to tourism
- U.S. military leases and land transfers immediately following statehood
- Redress for Japanese-Americans and Japanese Latin Americans incarcerated during WWII
- Shipping, unions, and logistics in the Pacific during the Vietnam War
- Kahoʻolawe
- Immigration reform
- Coral reef conservation
- Nuclear testing in the Pacific
- The Compacts of Free Association
