Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives

The Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives will digitize and place frequently used collections in an online database to make them available to students, educators, researchers, and other audiences worldwide. The project will greatly expand access to 5,200 photographs, and 81,000 pages of missionary letters that record missionary actions and intent, observations of Native Hawaiian life and culture, and the turmoil and change resulting from Western contact. Access to important primary resources has been constrained by the museum’s geographic isolation, making visits difficult and expensive even for residents of neighboring islands. An enhanced museum website and availability of key holdings will increase recognition and use of the collection to broaden dialogue and understanding of the profound changes that continue to impact contemporary Hawaii. The project builds on a previous IMLS-funded project that created a digital catalog of the museum’s books and digitized a portion of its photographic collection.