Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site & Archives invites the community to experience Hawaii’s history in an intimate and elegant setting with Tea & Treasures: A Private Archival Experience on Saturday, February 28, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with guest arrival and check-in beginning at 10:30 a.m. Following the program, the Hale Kū’ai (gift shop) will be open for guests. All inclusive price of $150 per person. Tickets are now available at https://missionhouses.org/events/tea-treasures
This premium, culturally-grounded program offers guests exclusive access to rarely seen artifacts from the organization’s archival collection, paired with traditional afternoon tea service and hands-on historical activities. Limited seating ensures an intimate, personalized experience at one of Honolulu’s most significant historic sites.
Event Highlights Include:
Rare Archival Presentation – Guests will enjoy a curated presentation of historic artifacts in the library, with white-glove, self-guided interaction and opportunities for Q&A with Archivist and Librarian, Kyle Hart.
Historic Grounds Tour – Explore the mission grounds and step inside the traditional hale pili (grass house), gaining insight into 19th-century life in Hawaiʻi.
Printing Press Experience – Each guest will operate the historic printing press, creating their own keepsake print to take home under the guidance of Director of Education Mike Smola.
Afternoon Tea Service – Award-winning Tea at 1024 will provide traditional high tea service featuring local flavors, including signature scones with clotted cream, delicate tea sandwiches, and homemade sweets.
Live Hawaiian Music – Enjoy live acoustic music performed by Jason Laeha throughout the afternoon.
‘Ulu‘ulu is presenting an archival film screening at the Hawai‘i International Film Festival and showcasing HAWAI‘I PONO‘I, the newly restored 1970 film, a visually stunning and poetic meditation on music, the gods in the Hawaiian pantheon and the mystique and ancestry of Hana, Maui. This film documents the Ho‘olaule‘a O Hana Maui and features artists ‘Iolani Luahine, the Farden Sisters, Gabby Pahinui, Ka‘upena Wong, and Eddie Kamae. A panel discussion with filmmaker Myrna Kamae, Bishop Museum historian Desoto Brown, and archivist Janel Quirante follows the screening.
When & Where:
Saturday, October 5, 2024 at 1:00pm at Consolidated Theatres Kahala
Encore screening on Wednesday, October 16, 2024 at 1:00pm at UH West O‘ahu (no panel)
Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum will be celebrating American Archives Month with social media postings of a selection of letters, newspaper articles, and other printed matter, about the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company and Maui Agricultural Company’s activities during the early to mid 20th century.
For more information, contact: Holly Buland, Assistant Director, operations@sugarmuseum.com, 808-871-8058
In Hawaii we value the memories and histories of our ʻohana and communities. It’s what grounds us and shapes us. When our family members or loved ones pass on, they often leave priceless, valuable, and treasured items we become the guardians of. Typically, things entrusted to us include a large amount of important documents and family photographs. Many times the responsibility of caring for these items becomes overwhelming. As they age, we struggle to maintain them and to ensure their longevity. “Where do I start? What do I save? How do I take care of this?” These plaguing questions are all too familiar to anyone who has opened that old Liberty House box hiding in the corner of the garage.
These common concerns led the Community Service Committee of the Association of Hawaiʻi Archivists to realize the need our communities have in seeking information for care and preservation of historic items. In collaboration with the Society of American Archivists University of Hawai’i Mānoa Student Chapter, a free Community Archival Workshop was coordinated and held on September 24th, 2016.
The workshop committee’s goal was to offer general education in archival processes and cost effective preservation methods in ways non-LIS (Library Information Science) professionals could connect to. This meant adapting and condensing heavy archival practices and knowledge into an easy and understandable way. Approximately 30 community members and a handful of LIS related professionals attended the workshop held at the Leeward Community College Library.
3 Sessions where included in the workshop day. Knowing that Hawaiʻi family collections are predominately documents and photographs, the workshop sessions focused primarily on physical care and digitization of those materials.
SAA-SC presenters Jennifer Magaloyo, Ellie Seaton, Allyson Ota, & Keala Richard
Session 1 was titled “Mālama Palapala: Physical Care of Documents & Photographs”. 4 student presenters from the Society of American Archivists- University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa Student Chapter led a lively presentation covering such things as identifying common pests in Hawaiʻi homes that cause damage, basic treatment of such damaged items, understanding aging processes, historical information on photographic types, simple storage hacks and tips, and basic, easy preservation techniques. The student presenters included a live demonstration of removing photographs from commonly used magnetic albums using a hair dryer technique. Attendees especially enjoyed the students “Hu, Dis Buggah” guessing game, which included matching pictures of damaged items to the pest that created it.
Session 2 covered “Hoʻokikoho’e: Digitizing Your family history”. Recent LIS graduate from Mānoa and current Assistant Librarian at Kapolei Library Kylie Kaeo led the presentation. Using lessons learned from her own family digitization project as well as basic standards from a variety of national organizations, she created a comfortable presentation which many community members could connect to. It included simple terms used in scanning software, digital arrangement, and storage of master image files.
Presenter Kylie Kaeo talks about beginning a family digitization project.
A third “Talk-Story” session was held after lunchtime to give attendees an opportunity to ask professionals questions concerning care for any items they may have in their personal collections. Professionals available during the Talk-Story hour were Annie Thomas, Eleanor Kleiber, Kanako Iwase, and Keau George from the AHA board. Our SAA-SC presenters from session 1 and presenter Kylie Kaeo had great advice and feedback for the discussion. Special guest professional Rachael Bussert, Congressional Papers Archivist from the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa was also present. Subjects such as care of kimono and framed photographs were asked. A very important concept came to light in our talk concerning the spiritual connection family members may have to items and how one might approach the physical handling of such things.
Members of the Wahiawa Hawaiian Civic Club joined the workshop.
In a survey conducted to gain overall feedback about the workshop, attendees were positive and appreciative. Here are some of the results:
Would you recommend this event to other community members? 100% replied “yes”
Will you be able to use what you learned in the workshop at home with your family treasures? 100% replied “yes”
Did you feel the presenters were knowledgeable about the topic? 100% replied “yes”
Was the information given by the presenters informative and clear? 100% replied “yes”
Other comments:
“Discussion session very valuable. Thank you, great workshop. Learned what “frass” was; never knew!”
“The workshops were very well presented. The presenters kept my attention and were very personable and engaging.”
“Enjoyed both presentations. Speakers are very knowledgeable. Will recommend workshop to others!”
A special thank you to the AHA Community Service Committee and board, the Society of American Archivists University of Hawai’i Mānoa Student Chapter, Kīna’u McKeague for morning refreshments, Vanessa Race for a scrumptious lunch, and Wayde Oshiro for the use of the Leeward Community College Library.
The Association of Hawaiʻi Archivists is hosting two free Preserving (Digital) Objects With Restricted Resources workshops led by the Digital POWRR Project.
Oʻahu: November 15, UH Mānoa, Hamilton Library, Room 306, 9am-4pm
Travel Scholarships Available: To help support travel for workshop participants from neighbor islands, the POWRR project will provide scholarships for up to $300 each for nine awardees to attend. Please apply here: http://bit.ly/POWRRscholarship
Deadline: Oct. 15.
Questions?: Contact Eleanor Kleiber (ekleiber@hawaii.edu), Joy Holland (joy@konahistorical.org) or Annie Thomas (athomas@hawaii.edu)
a hair dryer technique. Attendees especially enjoyed the students “Hu, Dis Buggah” guessing game, which included matching pictures of damaged items to the pest that created it.
