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American Samoa’s 2019 Archives Month — “Stories of Islanders and the World”

Archives month logo

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — American Samoa Government Dept. of Adm. Services Office of Archives and Records Management employees and the general public helped contribute towards several activities last month during the annual “American Samoa Archives Month”. Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga cordially supported the annual occasion via a Governor’s Proclamation that was printed in the Samoa News and online at Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.

We joined other island community group events in October that encouraged public information about history and culture: White Sunday, Discovers Day, Palolo Night, Tattoo Festival, Ms. Am. Samoa and Halloween.

 This year’s theme was “Stories of Islanders and the World” and program events included public promotion of COSA’s #askanarchivist and #erecsday on Twitter; a White Sunday/Discovery Day photo document show; a Street-wave; two public Facebook outreach discussions about Finding Guides and the One US National Parent program; a Halloween week and an All Saints Day BBQ. The program was also shared during an interview on Am. Samoa’s nightly KVZK TV Talafou newscast.

This year, Archives & Records tried to encourage public participation on social media and gauged public outreach usage of several online media platforms. A number of visitors enjoyed our framed and matted presentations of archival letters, documents, publications, photos and prints, before sad word was received that Dept. of Adm. Service’s long time archivist Tua Lokan had passed away.

Mrs. Lokan was a pioneer and leader of archives and records services in American Samoa. Our street-wave subsequently proceeded on a somber tone, with a rainy morning wave dedicated to her memory. Remainder activities for the month were also muted although some Halloween friends did appear to cheer our spirits towards the end. The Office of Archives and Records Management offers sincere condolences to Mrs. Lokan’s family.

American Samoa Archives Month is the territorial version of the national American Archives Month created by COSA, the Council of State Archivists in 2006. Now in its thirteenth year, American Archives Month has become a regular celebration of state and territorial archives and records centers, historical societies, research libraries and other recordkeeping organizations across the nation.

We hope you liked American Samoa Archives Month and plan to visit sometime to explore. We’re more than happy to help you locate your important government archives and records information as well as historical cultural information for your family, village, church, business or school projects.

We thank all of our kind donors and look forward to a brighter 2020 Archives Month!

For additional information call M-F 730-400 at 699-6848/5148 or email us via the ASG Website americansamoagovernment@gmail.com