HWST 650 Research Guide: Home

About this Guide

This course research guide was created for students in HWST 650 Hawaiian Geography and Resource Management. If you are a student in this class and need any further research help with the databases and search strategies listed on this page, please contact UHM Hawaiian Collection librarian Kapena Shim, kapena@hawaii.edu.

A note on place names. As you are researching, brainstorm a list of all the possible names of the place you are researching and search for those names. For instance, common name used today to describe an area, i.e. Hawaiʻi Kai vs. Maunalua, and names such as ʻili (land section), ahupuaʻa (land division), moku (land district), and mokupuni (island).

More Guides

These additional research guides will point you in the right direction to find additional information about the places you are researching, such as place names and moʻolelo. Note, there is some overlap of resources between these guides and with the resources listed on this page.

Hawaiʻi Place Names
Hawaiʻi Ahupuaʻa Research
Hawaiian Thesis Research

Cultural and Archaeological Studies

***UH Mānoa's OneSearch
Searches the Hawaiian Collection's holdings of cultural and archaeological studies and reports. To find these studies and reports, click the link to do an advanced search. On the advanced search page, select "UHM Library" as the search scope and use one of the search templates below. Once you have a results list, filter results by "Held by Library."

• Any field: place name archaeolog*
• Any field: place name cultural
• Any field: place name histor*
• Any field: place name AND Subject: antiquities

***State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD)'s Library
SHPD's libraries, in Kapolei and on Maui, holds many cultural and archaeological surveys, reports, and other studies that were submitted to the State Historic Preservation Division as part of statutory requirements for projects that impact historic properties and disturb the ground. 

• To locate materials in their library, search their database Hawaiʻi Cultural Resource Information System (HICRIS) for archaeological reports they have digitized. The coverage of digitized historical materials is strong for all the islands except a small part of Hawaiʻi Island and half of Oʻahu (from ʻAiea to Kahaluʻu). Below are detailed steps to search in HICRIS.
  • First, created an account.
  • Second click the "Search" tab on top, then click the "Library" section. You will only want to search the "Library" section. All other sections are meant for other parties SHPD deals with and are not accessible to the general public. 
  • Third, do a simple place name keyword search in the "Library Item Title" field. Note, the TMK field does not work the best. You can easily find a final report by filtering by "Library Item Type."
  • Fourth, once you have results, adjust columns to make it easier to review the results list and read the titles of available reports.
  • Fifth, download the item by clicking the "Go To" icon, then click the item's title, then click the "ViEW" button (top right) in the "Attachments" section.
• If you have any trouble with this and/or if an attachment is not available, you can email the SHPD librarian at DLNR.HP.Library@hawaii.gov for help. Please also note that if you have a Tax Map Key (TMK) number, I suggest you email the librarian right away for any related reports because the SHPD library is organized by TMK. The format for a TMK number is I-Z-S-PPP-ppp. For example 3-9-2-118-043.
  • I = Island (County) Number (1 digit) (1 Honolulu, 2 Maui, 3 Hawaii, 4 Kauai)
  • Z = Zone Number (1 digit)
  • S = Section Number (1 digit)
  • PPP = Plat Number (3 digits)*
  • ppp = Parcel Number (3 digits)*
    *Add leading zeros to the numbers if contain less than 3 digits.

Nā Mea ʻImi Ka Wā Kahiko: An Annotated Bibliography of Hawaiian Archaeology, 1988
Excellent source to find additional cultural and archaeological studies and reports that perhaps are not in OneSearch. This bibliography is only available in print. References are annotated and grouped by island. There is also a cross-referenced island, district, and ahupuaʻa index. 

Bishop Museum's Anthropology Manuscript Database
Searches manuscripts from past projects that are accessible to read in the Bishop Museum's Archives. You can search either the author, title, publication year, or museum project number to find manuscripts. Do a simple KEYWORD search for your place name in the title field. If you find any publications of interest, you may want to search in OneSearch to see if the Hawaiian Collection has it as it is easier to access our materials than Bishop Museum's.

Bishop Museum's Anthropology Projects Database
Searches reports from current and past projects undertaken by the Bishop Museum's anthropology department. Many of these reports are available in the Bishop Museum's library, in the State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD)'s library, and in UHM's Hawaiian Collection. Do a simple KEYWORD search for your place name in the locality field or use the island and district fields to browse the places covered in the database.

Ethnographic Studies and Oral Histories

***Ulukau's Kumu Pono Associates Publications
Use Ulukau to browse the selection of ethnographic studies published by Kumu Pono Associates.

• To find these publications, in the main search box, type in "Kumu Pono Associates". Outside of Ulukau, you can find additional publications by them on their website https://www.kumupono.com/ethnographic-studies/, as well as do the same search in OneSearch and filtering results to "Held by Library".

***Bishop Museum's Archive Catalog
Mary Kawena Pukui did extensive ethnographic interviews with kūpuna across the pae ʻāina. The recordings, interviewees, and the topics discussed are searchable in the Bishop Museum's archive catalog. Note, these recordings are only accessible in person to listen to at the Bishop Museum's Archives.

***Papakilo Database
Partially searches across many unique repositories important for Hawaiian research, such as the Bishop Museum and the Hawaiʻi State Archives. Also includes a fuller body of Hawaiian language newspapers (in comparison to Ulukau). This database also has a "Search Mahele Record" search that makes it very easy and efficient way to find māhele records such as the register, testimony, awards, and patents. This search also includes māhele records that were not awarded which is something Kipuka does not include.

***Center for Oral History's ScholarSpace Collection
Based in the UHM's Ethnic Studies department, the Center for Oral History has done extensive oral history projects documenting communities, ethnic groups, government, historical events, individual lives, and occupations. The transcripts of these recordings are available and searchable online through ScholarSpace.

Kaniʻāina
Newer digital repository that holds the Ka Leo Hawaiʻi radio program audio recordings from the Hui Aloha ʻĀina Tuahine of UH Mānoa broadcast in 1972-1986. This database aims to fully transcribe and index the recordings but not all of the recordings are transcribed or indexed. Looks like 59 out of 417 recordings have been completed so far. There is also a Kū I Ka Mānaleo section that features short excerpts on different topics. 

Ka Leo Hawaiʻi Radio Recordings @ UHM CLT
UHM's Center for Language and Technology (CLT) has also made available the same audio recordings (except the excerpts) as Kaniʻāina. They are available online through their "Language Audio" portal. The advantage to using this portal is that all the recordings are indexed by guests, callers, and topics discussed every 5 minutes in each radio program.

Ka Leo Hawaiʻi Recordings @ eVols
Collection of recordings from 1991-2000 when Puakea Nogelmeier, Tuti Kanahele and Hauʻoli Akaka hosted the program. The recordings are only indexed by interviewee which are listed in the subject field.

Māhele Records and Maps

***Research Guides on Māhele records
Provides an in-depth overview on how to find māhele records. Use this tutorial guide on māhele records for step by step instructions on locating Māhele records in the various databases. Below is a brief snapshot of the databases highlighted in the two guides linked above.

***Kipuka
GIS database that links to māhele records, land grants, TMK maps, survey maps, and additional resources. Great place to start your research to find historical land tenure documents pertaining the place being researched. Note: It appears not all māhele records are mapped in certain areas, especially in urban Oʻahu. 

AvaKonohiki
After clicking "Expert" on the homepage, provides access to the buke māhele, foreign and native testimonies and land commission awards. Also includes a selection of survey maps from the Hawaiʻi Land Survey Division. The main advantage with this database is that it provides a searchable transcription of Land Commission Awards and translations of native testimonies.

***Waihona Aina
Provides access to transcriptions, translations, and tabulations of māhele records, Land Grants, Boundary Commission, and Royal Patents. Must pay to access these documents but UH Mānoa students, faculty and staff can obtain up to 5 documents per class research assignment. A big plus with this database is that one can freely search the full-text of the transcriptions and the indexes. Another big plus is that the māhele registers and testimonies are translated.

***Hawaiʻi Land Division Survey Maps
Using the "Map Search," access digital copies of their historic survey maps. These maps reference different māhele records. Download the index to locate the map register number or other indexes you have that has the map register number. You can also find maps in the "Miscellaneous Maps" section.

Hawaiʻi Maps @ MAGIS
UHM Library's Maps, Aerial Photos and GIS (MAGIS) department has a detailed guide on finding all sorts of maps and aerial photos of Hawaiʻi such as historical maps, topographic maps, and thematic maps.

Lloyd J. Soehren's Catalog of Hawaiʻi Place Names
Compiled from many māhele records, survey maps, and other sources, searches for various place names and natural features and identifies the source(s) that the names and features are mentioned in for cross-referencing. Includes Hawaiʻi, Kauaʻi, Kaʻula, Lānaʻi, Lehua, Maui, Molokaʻi, Niʻihau, and Oʻahu. Excluded for now: Leeward Island, Nihoa. Also partially available on Ulukau, in browsable and drill-down formats.