Digitizing Ka Palapala
For those attending the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa before 1968, Ka Palapala was a familiar publication. These bound annuals, similar in format to high school annuals, would memorialize every academic year.
Ka Palapala featured photos of university leaders and instructors, like popular Religion Professor Mits Aoki; sororities including Wakaba Kai and Te Chih Sheh; significant campus happenings like the Vietnam War protests; and even portraits of the Ka Palapala queens, who represented Hawai‘i’s different ethnic groups.
Previously, if you wanted to look at Ka Palapala, you would venture to Hamilton Library, visit the Hawaiian and Pacific Collections reading room and peruse the bound copies of volumes on the shelves.
But today, courtesy of technology and a new $75,000 scanner, you can view Ka Palapala from the comfort of your own computer.