Collections

A collection of digitized transcripts of oral histories compiled through the Oral History program at Brigham Young University–Hawaii under the direction of Kenneth Baldridge and William Kauaiwiulaokalani Wallace III.

American commercial whaling began in the waters New England, and flourished from the late 1700’s through the mid-1800’s. The successful profits of whaling, and declining whale populations in the Atlantic, drove whaling ships around the tip of South America into Pacific waters, with whalers arriving in Hawaii in 1819. For Hawaiian ports, especially Honolulu and Lahaina, whaling fleets were the crux of the economy for over 20 years.

Collection consists of 60 scrimshaw (intricately etched whale teeth, bone, and baleen), carved whale bone and wooden tools, and other artifacts produced during the whaling era and since its decline. A donation to the BYU–Hawaii JFS Library Archives by Douglas and Beverly De Sure of Las Vegas, Nevada.

A collection of wood and cloth figurines composing scenes from a pioneer wagon train common in the mid-1800 American West. Collection donated to the Church College of Hawaii (now BYU–Hawaii) in 1958 by the family of former Laie Hawaii Temple President Ralph E. Woolley. The Church College of Hawaii library was named in his honor: the Ralph E. Woolley Library. When collection was first acquired, the complete 43-piece collection was displayed in a large glass case positioned in the main foyer of the library until 1989, when collection pieces were restored and rehoused in the University Archives.

Na Hoa Pono is the campus annual published by both Church College of Hawaii and later Brigham Young University–Hawaii. It was released intermittently until it was discontinued from publication in 2000. Na Hoa Pono was published from 1956 to 1971, returned in 1976 and 1978, from 1983 to 1986, and was published again from 1998 to 2000.

Full-text access to Pacific Studies, published by the Pacific Institute at Brigham Young University–Hawaii. Includes issues from September 1977 to June 2002.

A collection of images from the Church College of Hawaii and Brigham Young University–Hawaii. Includes images of campus construction, labor missionaries, faculty, staff, students, and buildings.

Photographs from the collection of Edward K. Bryant, a faculty member at Church College of Hawaii who served in the Pacific during World War II in the Naval Construction Battalion (Seabees), from 1942 to 1945. The collection contains images from Samoa, Vanuatu, and Aotearoa/New Zealand during that period.

The Polynesian Cultural Center opened its doors to guests in 1963. This collection of images documents the construction and early years of the center, including villages, managers, employees, visitors, and important events from 1961 through 1979.

The Laie plantation served as the focal point for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints missionary activity in Hawaii from 1865 until the late 1920s. It remains an important part of the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the islands. This collection includes images of chapels, landmarks, the Laie Hawaii Temple, community members, and community events from approximately 1879 to 1965.

Digital collection of journals and diaries from Mormon missionaries in Asia, Europe, North America, and the Pacific.

The Hawaii Sugar Planter's Association Collection contains over 100,000 individual records of Filipino laborers who came to Hawaii to work on sugar and pineapple plantations between 1906 and 1949. Digitizing this collection is an ongoing project, with over 20,000 records having been added to date.

In 1955, the Church College of Hawaii campus news center began publication of the campus newspaper, The Ke Alakaʻi. A student-run news publication, The Ke Alakaʻi covers stories from campus events to local community features to reactions to international news from our diverse student body.

The Ke Alakaʻi Student Newspaper Collection provides searchable digital versions of the campus newspaper, from 1955 to 2008. Issues of the Ke Alakaʻi from 2008 to the present can be accessed via ISSUU (https://issuu.com/kealakai)