There are extensive archival collections of government records and manuscript material, but a major focus of the IHLRT’s work will be providing access to the newly-digitized Hawaiian language newspapers of the last two centuries. Between 1834 and 1948, 125,000 pages of Hawaiian language newspapers were printed in 100 different papers, equal to over one million letter-size pages of typescript. Only a tiny fraction has ever been included in modern publication or discourse. This repository contains invaluable knowledge that has lain dormant for 100 years and up until the last decade has only been available by manually combing through reels of microfilm or handling fragile originals. New technology has made this material increasingly available and it is being investigated anew. This historical body of knowledge expands our understanding on many levels, providing a wealth of social, cultural and historical information relevant to our society today.

Though accessible, the entire cache is in the Hawaiian language. Successful language revitalization over the last 40 years has kept the Hawaiian language alive and produced nearly 20,000 speakers, but that is less than 5% of all Hawaiians and 2% of Hawaiʻi’s people today with some fluency in Hawaiian. Even fluent speakers find it difficult to read and understand the unfamiliar idiom, vocabulary and historical context of Hawaiian materials from the 1800s, so only a small circle have the ability to access the archival information, few of whom have the motivation or time to do so. Only 2-3% of the newspaper repository is included in modern research and publications at present and the remainder, unfamiliar to modern Hawaiian speakers, is completely beyond the reach and awareness of the general population, including researchers and scholars at our own university.