Frequently
Asked Questions
- Genealogy Research
- Photos and Maps
Hawaiian Collection
Special Collections
UHM Library
Hawaii Voyager
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Plantation Archives
What is in the Plantation Archives?
The Plantation Archives contains the business records of various sugar companies
in Hawaii. See About the Plantation Archives for its scope
and contents.
Does the Plantation Archives hold records from all sugar plantions in Hawaii?
No, not all. For a list of the plantations included in the Plantation Archives,
see Plantations and Finding Aids. For the location
of other sugar-related resources in Hawaii, refer to Sugar in Hawaii: a Guide
to Historical Resources, compiled and annotated by Susan M. Campbell, edited
by Linda Menton. Honolulu: Humanities Program of the State Foundation on culture
and the Arts, in cooperation with The Hawaiian Historical Society, 1986.
Have any of the Plantation Archives materials been microfilmed or digitized?
No, they have not. Access to Plantation Archives materials still requires a visit
to the UHM Library.
How can I get copies of materials in the Plantation Archives?
Researchers may make photographic copies of materials in the Plantation Archives.
Any type of camera is allowed, as long as flash is not used, and as long as use
of equipment does not damage or endanger the materials. Photocopying and scanning
of materials is not allowed. Researchers requiring the services of UHM Library
to reproduce materials should contact a Special Collections librarian (speccoll@hawaii.edu;
(808) 956-8264). Publication and use of materials in the Plantation Archives
require acknowlegement of the source (see next question).
How do I cite to the Plantation Archives?
Publications quoting from or referring to portions of the Plantation Archives
are required to properly acknowledge the source as "Hawaiian Sugar Planters'
Association Plantation Archives, University of Hawaii at Manoa Library Hawaiian
Collection." When citing to a specific document, use the following format: sugar
company code, location code, title. Example: Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association
Plantation Archives, University of Hawaii at Manoa Library Hawaiian Collection.
OSC 1/1, Correspondence from Hackfeld - 1897.
How do I use the Plantation Archives?
The HSPA Plantation Archives is available for use by UHM students, faculty and
staff, and the general public, in the reading room of the UHM Library's Special
Collections. Access to the Plantation Archives is by appointment only. See Use
and Access for further information. For reference desk and reading room hours,
see the Special Collections web
pages.
If I am planning on visiting Hawaii, how can I arrange to use the
Plantation Archives and what should I know?
Access to the Plantation Archives is by appointment only. We ask researchers
to review the informational web pages and appropriate plantations' registers
and finding aids, and to consult with a reference librarian before submitting
a request. Be sure to factor in time for consultation and retrieval (retrieval
can take up to 48 hours), and contact us ahead of time, to ensure that your materials
can be retrieved in time for your visit. Also note that the hours within which
HSPA can be used are limited. See Use and Access for
details.
What happens if I miss my appointment time to use the Plantation Archives?
If you need to cancel your appointment, please let us know. If you need to postpone
your appointment, please contact us to reschedule. All materials held for appointments
not kept or not rescheduled will be reshelved. After that, requests will need
to be resubmitted and appointments rescheduled; retrieval will again take up
to 48 hours. (speccoll@hawaii.edu; (808) 956-8264)
Can I use the Plantation Archives if I am not able to visit the UHM Library?
Reference librarians at the UHM Library's Special Collections can answer basic
questions about the Plantation Archives. Much of the information the librarians
can provide is available in these HSPA Plantation Archives web pages. See the Special Collections web pages for
reference desk hours, and contact information. For reference inquiries beyond
this, the UHM Library's External Services Program (ESP) offers research services
on a cost-recovery basis. See ESP's
web pages for rates and contact information.
What is the difference between the HSPA Plantation Archives and the
archives of the HSPA?
The HSPA Plantation Archives contains the business records of various
sugar companies in Hawaii. This collection, originally gathered and organized
by the HSPA, was given to and is now held by the University of Hawaii at Manoa
Library. For brevity, people sometimes refer to this collection as "HSPA."
The archives of the HSPA contains the business records of the Hawaiian
Sugar Planters' Association. These records are kept by HSPA's successor company,
the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center (HARC).
GENEALOGY RESEARCH
The Plantation Archives does hold personnel and payroll records from some plantations,
but there are no name indexes available. Finding information about a particular
person requires manually scanning through the records. Researchers should use
the Plantation Archives only after other resources have been checked and after
specific details about family members are secured.
What information should I have before I consult the Plantation Archives
for information about my family members?
Your research will be most productive if you have the following information:
the island the plantation was on, the name of the plantation, your family member's
name, the dates during which your family member worked on the plantation, the
kind of work your family member did.
What kind of information can I expect to find about people in the Plantation
Archives?
Some of the plantations' collections include personnel and payroll records, and
some do not. Each plantation's personnel and payroll records vary in volume and
type of information kept.
Personnel records, if available, offer any combination of the following types
of information: name, type of work, dates of employment, dates of birth and death,
family members' names, significant events in the worker's employment history.
Most personnel records do not include all of this information. Sometimes only
the name was recorded. Personnel records were usually kept grouped by ethnicity
and then sorted by bango number (i.e. personnel number) order, not alphabetical
order. Ethnicity was implied by the group within which the record is kept. Dates
were sometimes not written down, but only implied by the position of the card
in the stack.
Payroll records, if available, typically included the following: the pay date,
followed by a list of bango numbers (i.e. personnel numbers) and the amount paid
to each worker holding that number. Typically, names were not included except
in cases of managers or skilled workers.
How do I use the Plantation Archives for my genealogical research?
First determine if the Plantation Archives will be of use to you. Check the list
of plantations to see if the one you need is included in the Plantation Archives.
If it is, follow the link to the plantation's register and check its Scope and
Contents notes for information on the extent of its personnel and payroll holdings.
If it looks promising to you, check the finding aid for that plantation and identify
the specific records or volumes you need. Submit a request. See Use
and Access for further information.
PHOTOS AND MAPS
The Plantation Archives' holdings of visual materials such as photos and maps are limited. Please consult this inventory to review the items we have identified from the collection. To review any of them, see Use
and Access for instructions on submitting a request for retrieval. We regret that digital copies of these items are not available for online review.