A Digitization Journey, a Knowledge Journey: Personal and Professional Insights From My Work on P…

A Digitization Journey, a Knowledge Journey: Personal and Professional Insights From My Work on Polynesian Researches

Na au iki a me na au nui o ka ʻike: The little and the large currents of knowledge.
In preparation for Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, I chose to reflect on the intersections of my past and present work in
Biodiversity Heritage Library
(BHL) collections, with historical connections to my home in Hawaiʻi. Part of my primary duties as a Conservation Technician with the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives is to stabilize objects before and after digitization for BHL. When I joined the team in 2018, I was assigned the task of mending the library’s four volumes of the 1853 edition of William Ellis’
Polynesian Researches During a Residence of Nearly Eight Years in the Society and Sandwich Islands
. The idea was to kick off my new job with a project that would inspire me on a personal level, as an introduction to the value of both the digital and physical preservation responsibilities of our institution.
Portrait of William Ellis
.
Narrative of a tour through Hawaii, or Owhyhee with observations on the natural history of the Sandwich Islands, and remarks on the manners, customs, traditions, history, and language of their inhabitants
. Third Edition, 1827. Contributed in BHL from Smithsonian Libraries and Archives.
British-born William Ellis is considered the “godfather of missionary ethnography.”
Polynesian Researches
vol. 4
chronicles his time spent in Hawaiʻi while serving under the infamous American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Credited with bringing Christianity, literacy, and western education to Kānaka Māoli (the native Hawaiians), the ABCFM also seeded the islands with the missionary descendants, known as the Committee of Safety, who on 6 July 1887 would hold King Kalākaua at gunpoint to sign a new constitution, effectively granting them control of the government. On 17 January 1893, a group of these same men organized a coup against the last reigning monarch,
Queen Liliʻuokalani
, using the imposing presence of the U.S. military to
overthrow the sovereign Kingdom of Hawaiʻi
. Following the overthrow, the provisional government set up by the Committee was recognized as a protectorate without the permission of the U.S. State Department. Finally, on 16 June 1897, in direct violation of previous treaties with the Kingdom of Hawaii, President Mckinley signed a new treaty granting the fraudulent annexation of Hawaiʻi by the United States. On 23 November 1993, the 100 year anniversary of the overthrow,
Joint Resolution 103-150
was signed into law by both chambers of congress and President Clinton. The law “acknowledged the historic significance of the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi…” and expressed the U.S. government’s “deep regret.”
Flag of the Kingdom of Hawaii
. Ellis, William.
Polynesian researches during a residence of nearly eight years in the Society and Sandwich islands
, …