Types of Materials: Bibliographies and Indexes
Frequently a researcher's best friend is a carefully compiled bibliography. An annotated bibliography can be especially useful as many of the archival collections are closed to browsing. It behooves the student researcher to use a variety of bibliographies produced at different historical points. Because no bibliography can be exhaustive, a thorough search of a variety of bibliographies can reveal compilers' biases or limitations. A recent bibliography is not necessarily the best.
The Social Science Research Institute at the University of Hawai'i published a series of bibliographies on ethnic groups of Hawai'i. They are:
- The Japanese in Hawai'i by Mitsugu Matsura
- The Koreans in Hawai'i by Arthur Gardner
- Culture and Behavior in Hawai'i by Judith Rubano
- The Chinese in Hawai'i by Nancy Foon Young
- The Japanese in Hawai'i (revised) by Dennis Ogawa and Jerry Fujioka
- The Filipinos in Hawai'i by Ruben R. Alcantara
- The Hawaiians by David Kittleson
One of the more comprehensive bibliographies available is a part of the World Bibliography Series in which Hawai'i is #146 in the series. Edited and annotated by Nancy Morris and Love Dean, it covers topics including: geography; language; politics; literature; labor; and, descriptions of directories and other bibliographies. With brief and informative annotations, this is an excellent first stop for the student researcher. Recently released is Vol. I of the Hawaiian National Bibliography. This project, edited and annotated by David W. Forbes, lies outside the scope of the Territorial period but it deserves mention as the first exhaustive bibliography "intended to be a comprehensive, annotated record of all printed works on some aspect of the political, religious, social, cultural, and scientific history of the Hawaiian Islands from 1780 to 1900" (Forbes, xi.). Volume I covers only 1780 to 1830, but student researchers who are interested in Native Hawaiian history in the early period of contact with the west should be familiar with the Forbes project.
An index can be as useful as a bibliography in that it provides a wedge into material which can be difficult or time consuming to access. Many of the local newspapers are indexed in separate volumes, including the major newspapers from the neighbor islands. UH CARL, the on-line computer catalog, provides an on-line index (Hawai'i Pacific Journal index) to a number of Hawai'i periodicals including Paradise of the Pacific and Mid-Pacific Magazine. A sampling of other indexes includes:
"Articles about the 1893 Overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy and Subsequent Events from 19th Century American Newspapers," n.p./n.d.
Hawai'i Historical Society. "Newspapers Published in Hawai'i: Survey of the Holdings of the Hawaiian Historical Society," 1953.
"Index to Kauai Historical Society Papers," 1961.
"Index to selected Hawai'i Magazines." Honolulu: Municipal Reference Library, from 1989.
Kellett, Carol S.Y. "Index to the University of Hawai'i Law Review, 1978-1997." Honolulu: William S. Richardson School of Law Library, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, 1999.
Kittleson, David J. "A Bibliographic Essay on the Territory of Hawai'i, 1900-1959." Journal of Pacific History, (1971), 195-218.
_____________ . "An Index to the Sales Builder, 1934-1941." Honolulu: Hawaiian-Pacific Collection, Hamilton Library, 1974.
_____________ . "A Bibliography of Hawaiian Bibliographies held by the Hawaiian Collection of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa Library," 1978.
_____________ . "History: An Annotated Bibliography." Books about Hawai'i, No. 8, 1975.
Lai, Kum Pui. "Social Process in Hawai'i: An Index to volumes 1-26, 1935-1963." Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Library, 1971.
Lothian, Christina. "An Index of the Articles on Hawai'i in the New England Newspaper Collection, 1806-1900, in the Lyman House Memorial Museum," Hilo Hawai'i," n.p., 1985.
Nordyke, Eleanor. The Peopling of Hawaii. 2nd ed. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1989.
Schmitt, Robert C. "Demographic Statistics of Hawaii: 1778-1965." Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1968.
________________. "Historical Statistics of Hawaii." Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1977.
