Our Native Hawaiian Health Archive is well underway thanks to the gift of the Dr. Kekuni Blaisdell collection of materials related to medicine, Hawaiian health and the 1980s development of the Hawaiian health arena and its foundational community organizations.

The Native Hawaiian Health Archive at Papa Ola Lōkahi will arrange, preserve and make accessible to the broader community historical documents and artifacts related to traditional Hawaiian healing, Hawaiian health and wellness, medicine in Hawai‘i, Hawaiian health policy, and the many health systems, agencies, programs, and Hawaiian health, and including private papers and collections.

We continue digitizing and indexing historical documents and images, working through the Blaisdell collection, and adding in other smaller collections. Our goal is an online repository of materials that is accessible, searchable, and useful to researchers, historians, or other interested parties.

Kuleana

• Arranging, describing, digitizing, preserving and making accessible historical documents and artifacts related to traditional Hawaiian healing, Hawaiian health and wellness, medicine in Hawaii, Hawaiian health policy and the many health systems, agencies, programs, and Hawaiian health providers;
• Accepting from donors relevant and appropriate collections related to Hawaiian health and well-being;
• Building & maintaining a Clearinghouse of resources, publications, opportunities and information related to Hawaiian health and well-being, in collaboration with Communications and Data & Research;
• Engaging in collaborative relationships with other institutions that house documents and artifacts related to Hawaiian health and well-being.

Building the Archive

We are also accepting donations of papers related to Hawaiian health, Hawaiian healing traditions, medicine in Hawai’i and the community or programs and organizations that have served the health and well-being of Native Hawaiians.  An acquisition policy was approved by the Native Hawaiian Health Archive Advisory Council in the Spring 2023.