Library Policy Statements

I. PROGRAM INFORMATION

In 1968, with the approval of the State Archives, the University of Hawaii Archives was separated from the Hawaiian Collection to become another unit within Special Collections. The University Archives received the charge of collecting, preserving and making available to researchers the permanently valuable historical and legal records of the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, as the University was first named, and of the institution through its several name changes to the present University of Hawaii at Manoa. The charge extends to the collecting of not just the records of the University but of its several offices, agencies and individuals. Since that time, the Hawaiian Collection has transferred to the University Archives several series of official records, personal papers and manuscripts, and University realia. "Records" are broadly defined to include material in any format, including unique manuscripts, photographs, maps, charts, audio tapes, prints, and other realia.

Since then, the University Archives and the Hawaiian Collection have usually included printed titles within the Hawaiian Collection where they are cataloged using the Library of Congress call number system. Among these materials are departmental, faculty and student newsletters, including the student newspaper, Ka Leo O Hawaii; official University catalogs, course schedules, budgetary and planning publications; ASUH yearbooks; University Press deposit copies; and faculty off-prints.

Resources in the University Archives include records from the President's Office, the Chancellor's Office, Faculty Senate, the University's publicity office, papers of faculty and students, and records of affiliated agencies as the Romanzo Adams Social Research Laboratory, the University Library, the Territorial Normal School Library, the East West Student Association, the Associated Students of the University of Hawaii and the Hawaii Cooperative Extension Service.

In addition, the University Archives houses the Hawaii War Records Depository (HWRD), a collection gathered to support a history of the Territory of Hawaii in World War II. HWRD Includes photographs, newspaper clippings, publications of civilian and military agencies in Hawaii, personal diaries and reminiscences, scrapbooks, maps and charts, and three-dimensional objects. The holdings also include seventy-one reels of microfilm. The University Archives collections are open to all patrons, serving as an information source for the administration, faculty, students, and off-campus researchers.

II. COORDINATION OF COLLECTING RESPONSIBILITIES

Although the University has a Records Management Officer, the records which go through that office are only a select few, governed by state records schedules for retention in the State Record Center in Mapunapuna until destruction. These are records do not come to the University Archives and are not saved.

The University Archivist works with the curator and specialists of the Hawaiian Collection in determining policies for university-related publications, and with all Special Collections units to determine policies for manuscripts and personal papers, as well as non-paper formats.

GUIDELINES TO MATERIAL INCLUDED OR EXCLUDED

Language: No limitations exist, though the records are primarily in English.

Chronological: Primarily, from the founding of the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in 1907 to date. What is now the College of Education began as a separate institution, first receiving official government recognition in 1895, and eventually becoming known as Territorial Normal School. Territorial Normal School became part of the University of Hawaii in 1931. Moreover, some collections from faculty and staff research may also include 19th century material.

Geographic: Limited only by the boundaries of the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) community; i.e., the Manoa campus, off-campus research and teaching facilities affiliated with the UHM programs, and affiliated faculty, staff and students statewide.

Date of publication: No limitations apply; archival materials, however, are primarily unpublished manuscript materials. The emphasis, because the institution began in 1907, is primarily 20th century and will continue into the 21st.

Types/Formats of Materials Collected: The Archives collections all formats within the other parameters of its collection.

Treatment: No limitations.

IV. SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS

Archival material is frequently special and unique. Acquisition, processing, storage, and use all require special policies and procedures. Processing needed to prepare archival collections for use by patrons takes an enormous amount of time compared to preparing most library research materials for public use.

Date compiled: 12/00 Compiler: James Cartwright