Welcome to our Fall Senior Practicum Intern, Tyler!

This year we’ve been blessed with an abundance of interns. One of our fall semester interns is Tyler. Tyler, is actually working on his Senior Practicum here at UHWO and not our usual Library and Information Sciences student. We’re happy that other Humanities majors find work in our archive interesting and inspiring. Learn all about Tyler, below!

Hello, My name is Tyler Hunter Shipley. I come from a military family, Coast Guard, and have been residing in Hawaiʻi for about 15 years. I am currently working on my Bachelors in Humanities with the focus of History. I love learning about all types of cultures and currently researching my Genealogy of my Indigenous North American tribe, Quapaw(Oh-Gah-Paw).

What brought you here to ‘Ulu‘ulu? What are some of the things you’re hoping to learn during your internship with us?

I came to ʻUluʻulu to learn some of the history of Hawaiʻi. I remember coming to Radford High School and when I took the U.S. History class, they only mentioned briefly about the illegal overthrow. I found it strange that I lived here for 15 years yet I know only a fraction of the culture or the history and thought that I should change that. I also wanted to see if being an archivist was my calling and thanks to ʻUluʻulu taking me in as an intern, I know it is.

What projects are you working on at ‘Ulu‘ulu?

The projects that I am currently working on are the Quality Control of Digital video files for the Hawaiʻi Congressional media, which I just finished recently, and creating descriptions and selecting clips of the digital video files for the Hawaiʻi Congressional Media.

Is there anything about the items you are working with that is surprising or unexpected? 

I found it fascinating learning about Spark Matsunaga, Daniel Akaka, and Pat Saiki. Like I mentioned before I have little information about Hawaiʻi and watching these clips gave me the feeling that I was living in that moment. It also allowed me to expand my critical thinking skills onto the historical individuals who helped shape Hawaiʻi to what it is today.

Now that  you’ve been at the archive for a little while now, have you found a favorite aspect? 

Other than using my critical thinking skills, my favorite aspect would have to be in the description, creating a clip to represent the video. I get the freedom to pick which clip that  I think is the most important section or the most interesting. 

Do you have any advice for future ʻUluʻulu interns or fellows?

That they made an excellent choice in choosing ʻUluʻulu and are in good hands.