As a community-based initiative, The Hawaiian Music Archives relies on its partners and supporters to help us fulfill our kuleana–responsibility–to preserve all aspects of Hawaiian music for future generations.
One of our most pressing needs is volunteers to help process our collections. Our initial success in soliciting donations means we have thousands of items that need to be indexed, catalogued and in some cases digitized to make them accessible to the public.
A prime example is our collection of more than 28,000 recordings of Hawaiian music. Volunteers are tasked with cleaning, indexing, and digitizing these cylinders and records so Hawaiian music enthusiasts around the world can access and enjoy a timeline rich in musical innovation and storytelling. For more details and to apply, please see our volunteer page at https://ags.hawaii.gov/archives/volunteer-at-the-archives/
The Music Archives also is actively seeking tax-deductible contributions of every facet of Hawaiian music from the 19th century to today: vintage instruments and cases, strings, tuners, sheet music and instruction books, recordings (everything from Edison cylinders to MP3s), film, video and digital recordings, advertising, music catalogs, personal papers, company archives and other material.
“Based on the response we’ve already seen, we’re confident that the international community of musicians, builders, music educators, retailers, scholars and collectors will continue to embrace this opportunity to build this extraordinary, one-of-a-kind resource, available to all,” says Shawn Yacavone, owner of the Honokaʻupu Collection, the world’s largest collection of pre-1900 ‘ukulele.
“It’s essential that the Hawaiian Music Archives include material from every period, including today,” says Jim Tranquada, co-author of The ‘Ukulele: A History and descendant of one of the three original ‘ukulele makers. “The history of Hawaiian music continues to be made right now.”