Primary Sources

Primary sources are direct evidence of history. Interpreting primary sources requires students to use the same skills--evaluating information, making hypotheses, drawing on what they know to make sense of what they don’t know, supporting a conclusion with evidence--that historians use in order to understand the past. Working with primary sources helps students to understand the immediacy and impact of history, and empowers them to critically evaluate other types of information. 

In this project, the Hawaiʻi Congressional Papers Collection at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library has partnered with scholars and historians to curate small collections of primary sources and supplemental resources relating to some of the topics documented in our collections.  We will be adding new modules to this page periodically, so please check back regularly! 

The Hawaiʻi Congressional Papers Collection (HCPC) comprises the papers of Hawaiʻi delegates to the U.S. Congress from statehood in 1959 to the present. These include the papers of U.S. Senator Hiram L. Fong, U.S. Representative Thomas P. Gill, U.S. Senator Spark M. Matsunaga, U.S. Representative Ed Case, and U.S. Representative Patricia F. Saiki, U.S. Representative Neil Abercrombie, U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka, and U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye. The papers of Representative Case and Senator Akaka are currently closed to the public.

Small collections of papers and memorabilia from Territorial Delegate John A. Burns, U.S. Senator Oren E. Long, U.S. Representative Patsy Mink, and U.S. Representative K. Mark Takai are also housed in the collection, as well as a small collection of born-digital material from U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard.

Congressional papers document the complicated deliberations and strategy–and often the long legislative slog–that happen behind the headlines of the day. The subjects best documented by our Hawaiʻi congressional collections include agriculture, maritime issues, natural resources, labor, civil rights issues, the military, U.S. policy in Asia and the Pacific, healthcare and education, land, and federal recognition.