ʻUluʻulu: The Henry Kuʻualoha Giugni Moving Image Archive of Hawaiʻi

Rep. Heather Giugni addresses the Social Science Association on May 7, 2012

We’ve been honored recently by several local organizations and community groups that have invited us to speak about ʻUluʻulu to their members. On May 7, Rep. Heather Giugni spoke to the Social Science Association at the Nuʻuanu YMCA.  Janel Quirante gave a presentation at the Aiea/Pearl City Community Town Meeting at Pearl Ridge Elementary School on May 17. And on June 14, Rep. Heather Giugni was one of the featured speakers at the Kapolei Chamber of Commerce Luncheon at the Kroc Center Hawaii.

Our presentations are great opportunities for us to introduce our archive and to highlight our preservation efforts and recently digitized collection materials.

Senate Bill SB2110 relating to the preservation of Hawaiʻi’s Moving Images and designating ʻUluʻulu as the state archive for moving images has been recommended for passage by the committees on Education and on Economic Development and Technology. The committee on Ways and Means will have a public hearing on this measure on Thursday, February 23 at 9:00 AM in Conference Room 211 of the State Capitol.

You can follow the status of SB2110 and submit online testimony in support of the bill on the Hawaiʻi State Legislature website.

Two bills were introduced in the Hawaiʻi State Legislature’s current session to designate ʻUluʻulu as the state archive for moving images. Senate bill SB2110 and the House companion bill HB2754 have passed their first reading and have been referred to committee for review. These two Bills also establish a special fund and a tax check-off for ʻUluʻulu. Thanks to the Senate committees on Economic Development & Technology and Education and the House committees on Culture & the Arts and Finance for introducing these bills!

You can follow the Bills’ latest status on the Hawaiʻi State Legislature website.

Construction at the new UH West Oahu campus is progressing very quickly and we’re on schedule to move into the Library in the Summer of 2012. Here are pictures of the ʻUluʻulu space taken during our site visit earlier this month.

Central Campus Construction. The Library tower can be seen in the center left.

ʻUluʻulu reading room, with screening area at the far end. This space will be open to students and researchers.

Four private study rooms where small groups can view collection materials.

Temperature and humidity-controlled vault to store archival videotapes and films.

Processing area where staff will catalog, inspect, clean and digitize collection items.

Loading and quarantine area for incoming collections.

Safety first!

We have been busy the last few months preparing to launch our public website and online digital collection. Part of this process included a slight name change to better reflect who we are as an organization.

Our new name is ʻUluʻulu: The Henry Kuʻualoha Giugni Moving Image Archive of Hawaiʻi. ʻUluʻulu is a Hawaiian word meaning collections, gathering or assembly. This is a fitting description for our archive and our mission to perpetuate and share the rich moving image heritage of Hawaiʻi through the preservation of film and videotape related to the history and culture of Native Hawaiians and the people of Hawaiʻi.