Hawaii's state archives hold over a century of history, but the building is now too full to keep up with the collection.

• The archives store 15,000 boxes of records, royal letters, millions of photographs, and tens of thousands of old music recordings documenting six different Hawaiian governments over time.
• Staff are digitizing documents and 3D-scanning artifacts to preserve them, but physical shelf space is maxed out.
• A master plan for a larger facility with classroom and museum space is nearly finished, but money to pay for it has not been secured.
• Archivists say the records let people connect personally with their family history, which is part of why preserving and expanding access matters.

Outlook: Expansion depends on the state finding funding, so the timeline for more space remains unclear.