Printing in the Hawaiian Language: New Digital Resource

Thanks to a generous grant from the Pine Tree Foundation of New York, newly digitized Hawaiian-language materials are now available through Printing in the Hawaiian Language, a digital resource on the American Antiquarian Society website.  The resource contains a digital library of 115 digitized Hawaiian materials, as well as background information on the Hawaiian collection at AAS, the history of printing on Hawai’i, and the stories of the people involved in the printing trade on the islands.  

Much of the work completed for this grant was done “behind the scenes” under the direction of Curator of Books and Digitized Collections Elizabeth Watts Pope. Through conservation by Chief Conservator Babette Gehnrich and Library and Archives Conservator Marissa Maynard, the materials have been stabilized for future preservation; through cataloging and digitization, accessibility has been greatly improved.

AAS staff enhanced 283 records for Hawaiian materials and uploaded those records to OCLC’s WorldCat, making them available to researchers and libraries around the world. Materials were also made available worldwide through digitization efforts: 1,412 pages were newly digitized thanks to photographer Nate Fiske, and 894 pages were repurposed from other projects by Digital Librarian Ana Pietrewicz for a total of 2,306 new images freely available through links in the Society’s catalog. Online Services Librarian Caroline Stoffel assembled the digitized materials in the digital library and was instrumental in designing the digital resource. 

Name authority work was a large and important part of the grant. Senior Cataloger and Authorities Librarian Carol Fisher-Crosby researched the lives of Native Hawaiian creators to establish dates of birth and death and a unique, consistent name for each person identified in the materials. Curator of Graphic Arts and Registrar Christine Morris created individual records for each of the engravings created by Native Hawaiians. Providing detailed descriptions of each print and identifying the artists and engravers to credit their work enhances access to this collection. The People in this Collection page of the digital resource offers a more in-depth look at the Native Hawaiians and others involved in the printing and publishing on the islands.  

During the project, AAS staff such as Digital Librarian Ana Pietrewicz also worked on building relationships on the islands – 1,064 pages of digital content were offered to Ulukau, the go-to site for Hawaiian-language scholars. These images were previously unavailable through Ulukau and are now in the process of being uploaded to the site.  

Wondering how all this Hawaiian material arrived in Worcester, Massachusetts? Check out the About this Resource page of Printing in the Hawaiian Language for more information! 

This project involved many departments including curatorial, conservation, cataloging, photography, and web design. Thanks to Elizabeth Watts Pope, Marissa Maynard, Babette Gehnrich, Beth Rheaume, Carol Fisher-Crosby, Christine Morris, Nathan Fiske, Ana Pietrewicz, Caroline Stoffel, Lauren Hewes, Scott Casper, and Julieane Frost at AAS, and especially to the Pine Tree Foundation of New York for its support.