In this time of disinformation, it is more important than ever to have a place of record. The archives of television news and now public broadcasting stretching over decades are being preserved at the University of Hawaiʻi West Oʻahu campus.
For the last decade and a half, the state’s archive for moving images has developed into a resource and hub for the community. Head archivist Janel Quirante and collections specialist and producer Heather Giugni are passionate protectors of our history — our collective stories in Hawaiʻi Nei.
Their work is being recognized as a model for the country.
ʻUluʻulu means collections, assembly, gathering and as a resource, it brings us together to learn about our past. The archive is digitizing the libraries of KITV, KGMB, and KHON. Archives from PBS Hawaiʻi will be available later this year.
Giugni said that the West Oʻahu facility was built by the community.
"Community got together many times in different groups, in different phases over the years, over the decades, to try to create something that would save our moving image history. If you can imagine, there was no place here in Hawaiʻi that had a facility that could take care of films and videos," she said.
Giugni said that Hawaiʻi's history in moving images started in the early 1900s.
"There's so many local people, homegrown people, here that created a career that are unknown to a greater population here in Hawaiʻi. And so hopefully these people will see the light of day again when people do research on them or make documentaries on them," she said.
Quirante said that it is a complex process to capture a digital file and video from an analog reel.
"The first being the machines that play back these media items don't exist anymore, or they're broken, or we can't find them, all the way up to managing the digital files in a digital preservation platform to make sure that the files last long into the future, so that people can continue to watch the footage. So I say that, but it's also so rewarding to be able to go through all of that work and watch the final product," she said.
She reflected on all the exciting things ʻUluʻulu has to offer as it celebrated its 15th anniversary last year. Quirante added that one of those exciting things includes teaching classes about archiving at UH West Oʻahu and UH Mānoa.
"One of those exciting things that we've been able to do is to teach new professionals who are interested in learning about moving image archives, how to do media preservation, and how to apply and gain hands-on experience in actually working with archival media because analog tapes, analog film reels — nobody has those anymore in their homes and so that becomes one of the challenges that ʻUlu has to work through is how do we take care of these analog media reels that are deteriorating and how do we digitize them so that people can continue to watch the footage that's recorded on them," she said.
She shared that ʻUluʻulu was also able to launch a new website and online catalog last year for people to interact with the various collections. To view the website, click here.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Jan. 27, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.