California 7th grader visits archives to research winning project

Not many middle school students would plan ahead to visit a university archives department on their family vacation to Hawai‘i. But that’s exactly what Alekha Goldberg, a 7th grader from a rural California town, did last December.

Goldberg was conducting research on her National History Day project about how the Democratic Revolution of 1954 facilitated Hawai‘i statehood. She reached out to Hamilton Library’s Archives and Manuscripts and Hawaiʻi Congressional Papers Collection departments to schedule a visit ahead of her trip, after compiling a list of resources she wanted to examine using the library’s online finding aids.

“Visiting the archives meant seeing primary sources that would teach me about Hawaiʻi’s representatives, unions, plantation life, and a more local story than the usual books. You feel like you were actually there at the time.”

So Dawn Sueoka, Helen Wong Smith, and Sherman Seki welcomed Goldberg and her mom, Rageshwar, to the library on Dec. 9, 2025, and helped them find the items Alekha had requested from the Hawai‘i Sugar Planters’ Association archives, the Yoshio Takamoto Sketchbooks collection, and the Congressional Papers of Daniel Inouye, Thomas Gill and Patsy Mink.

The rest, as they say, is history.

On April 24, Goldberg wrote to the team with exciting news: “I just wanted to share that I won the school and county competitions for National History Day and will be heading to the state competition in Sacramento next weekend!” Her winning project was in the “museum exhibit” category.

Goldberg expressed her appreciation to the librarians who helped her. “Thank you so much for your help. I loved the archives! I learned so much that gave me a better understanding of this important history. It was very meaningful, and I hope I can come back one day!”

We hope you will, too. Hoʻomaikaʻi ʻana and aloha, Alekha!