Hawai'i History Day: Primary Sources from the Hawai'i Congressional Papers Collection: 2021: Debate and Diplomacy in History

This guide features a selection of primary sources from the Hawai‘i Congressional Papers Collection that relate to each year’s Hawaiʻ History Day theme (click the green tabs above to navigate). Some of these documents may spark ideas and help you to generate questions as you start developing your project!

To learn more about our collections, which include the papers Senator Hiram L. Fong, Representative Thomas P. Gill, Senator Spark M. Matsunaga, Representative Ed Case, Representative Patricia F. Saiki, Representative Neil Abercrombie, Senator Daniel Akaka, and Senator Daniel K. Inouye, please visit our website.

This year’s Hawaiʻi History Day theme is Debate and Diplomacy in History: Successes, Failures, Consequences. This page features primary sources from the archives of Senator Daniel K. Inouye, Senator Hiram L. Fong, Senator Spark M. Matsunaga, Representative Thomas P. Gill, and Representative Patricia F. Saiki.

The issues highlighted here have required strategy, negotiation, compromise, and perseverance in order to navigate. Topics include the campaign for Hawaʻi statehood; the role of federal, state, and local governments; the Equal Rights Amendment and Hawaiʻi's equal rights bills; the campaign to stop the bombing of Kahoʻolawe and return the island to Hawaiʻi; the 1979 decision to create a commission to review facts relating to the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII (rather than pursuing redress directly); and the hearings on the Iran-Contra Affair.

Doing research in the Archives is different from finding books in a library. Identifying and reviewing archival material takes patience and persistence, so it’s important to start as early as you can!

If you think you might like to do research in the Congressional Papers Collection, email me (link above) with a description of your topic, and I’d be happy to see if our collections contain material that would support your research.

Please note that my access to the collections--and therefore my ability to assist researchers--may be impacted by COVID-19 closures.