The Bishop Museum Audio Collection
Bishop Museum’s Audio Collection consists of thousands of oral history interviews, recorded programs and lectures, Hawaiian oli and mele (chant and song) and the music and languages of other Pacific islands. These recordings were gathered over a sixty-year period beginning in the early 1920s, recorded on diverse technologies including cylinders, discs, steel wire, and magnetic tape, and form one of the finest collections of this kind in the world.
Among the most important aspects of this rich body of material are the Native Hawaiian oral traditions, which offer an invaluable ethnographic knowledge base for the study of Hawaiian history, culture, language and traditional practices. These interviews of Native Hawaiians conducted by Native Hawaiians serve as primary sources for a traditional cultural understanding. Many of the oral history interviews, largely led by renowned scholar and cultural resource Mary Kawena Pukui, were recorded in Hawaiian and are an irreplaceable record of the language as it was spoken by those who, in some cases, had first learned it over one hundred years ago.
Also notable in the Museum’s audio holdings are the Roberts Collection of Hawaiian mele dating from 1923-1924, and the Kuluwaimaka Collection (the voice of a chanter once in King Kalākaua’s court) dating from 1933.
In 2008, Bishop Museum, in partnership with the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, began a project to digitize its audio holdings to enhance access and aid in preservation of these important materials. The newly digitized audio materials are available with other recordings for Archives patrons to listen to during regular public reference hours.
The audio materials can be searched via the Archives online catalog, or via additional finding aids available to patrons in the Archives reference room.
A few tips for enhancing your catalog search of our audio collection:
- If you have internet access, we strongly suggest searching our online catalog prior to you Library/Archives visit to maximize your time while you are here.
- As part of enhanced access to our audio materials, detailed notes are provided for many call numbers. Printing the catalog entries for the call numbers you want to listen to and having them with you at the listening station will aid in quickly finding the information you are looking for. Listening stations do not have catalog or internet access.
- The searchable terms in the online catalog (both in Hawaiian and English) have been substantially increased. This includes names of people, places, as well as many ‘ōlelo no‘eau, or proverbs and poetical sayings. Search terms that you have tried before may now yield new results.
- Spelling is consistent with Pukui and Elbert’s Hawaiian Dictionary and Place Names of Hawaii publications unless otherwise indicated.
- Diacritical marks are used on Hawaiian words, place names, and names of ali‘i for which a conventional spelling has been established. These markings have not been used on other personal names.
- The online catalog does not bold and italicize Hawaiian words that have diacritical marks. If you have used a Hawaiian search term, it may be necessary to do a thorough scan of the resulting catalog entry in order to find where your term appears.
Acces the Archives online catalog here.
Sample audio clips are available for listening to online here.