20th Century Hawaiʻi: Moving Images from Territory to Statehood

In 2022, ʻUluʻulu was awarded a $350,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to digitize 890 motion picture film reels and videotapes from its holdings in order to shed light on how the path to statehood took on varying degrees of reactions and repercussions for the Native Hawaiian and Japanese American populations in Hawaiʻi. This project preserves and makes accessible the stories of the Nisei and Hawaiian struggles and achievements through the digitization of audiovisual recordings of oral histories, documentaries, festivals, conferences, and live performances. The collections that were digitized align with NEH’s A More Perfect Union initiative, in highlighting the stories of Hawaiʻi’s citizens who witnessed and participated in the road to statehood and the consequences of admission into the union.

In completing this three-year project, ʻUluʻulu digitized and cataloged over 655 hours of footage from 986 audiovisual items, creating 73TB of digital preservation masters. The digitized materials come from ten collections spanning the period of the 1920s to 2000s: Juniroa Productions, 442nd Legacy Center, Katsugo Miho, Samuel P. King, Making Waves Films, Hawaii People’s Fund, Hawaii Council for the Humanities, Tom Coffman, Hawaii Congressional Media and 100th Battalion Legacy Organization.

The wide range of topics include: interviews with citizens and business owners who were in Hawaiʻi before, during, and after the Second World War, oral history interviews with members of the 442 Regimental Combat Team and 100th Infantry Battalion about their service during the war coverage of Hawaiʻi’s political leaders from pre- and post-statehood, and family home movies depicting life in Hawaiʻi after the war.

The 20th Century Hawaiʻi: Moving Images from Territory to Statehood project has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom. www.neh.gov