When the pandemic came to the islands in early 2000, HPS had to go into “reserve” mode like everyone else and immediately change our operations. We could no longer safely have our kūpuna come in and visit or volunteer, and our team began to work mostly dispersed. Our regular HPS Archive research visits and inquiries went online. As the year continued and onsite visits were still out of the question, we “pivoted” (everyone’s favorite word, right?) and held our first-ever virtual Archive Tour for the Special Libraries Association student chapter. It took three of us in three different locations in the Office and Archive to pull it off, but we did. Here’s a photo of us with the university students on the zoom call. We welcome your research inquiries and visits (virtually), so reach out and connect with us through email!
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Happy 88th Zoom Birthday Auntie Winnie!
In June 2020, long-time volunteer, Auntie Winnie Wong Naihe, turned 88 years young. Every year, we would look forward to a grand birthday celebration at HPS with our team, volunteers, and Auntie’s extended family. Well, this time around, it was all about safely connecting however we could, sooooo… Zoom it was! Some of Auntie’s children and grandchildren joined in, along with members of our team. Too many to fit on one screen, but here’s a look at one iteration—Auntie is in the center box with her birthday lei. We first met Auntie Winnie in 2003 through her Kumu Kent Ghirard that we had the pleasure of interviewing starting in 2001. She was in his professional troupe, the Hula Nanis, in the early 1950s. They had a beautiful life through hula for the subsequent five decades until his passing in 2011. Last year, Auntie Winnie’s daughter, Ipo (in center box with mom), began to join her at the office, volunteering for HPS and bringing wonderful energy and aloha to the cause, just like her dedicated mom!