Principle 01
What the archive holds
The archive preserves historical, photographic, ceremonial, institutional, Indigenous, traditional, press, and Kingdom-issued material. Each of these is a different kind of evidence and is catalogued as such.
Archive Methodology
How records in this archive are catalogued, classified, and described.
This page sets out the principles the archive applies to every record it publishes. It describes cataloguing practice only; it introduces no historical claim and no evidence of its own.
Last substantively reviewed: September 6, 2026
Principle 02
Original titles are preserved
Where a document carries its own title, that original title is preserved and shown separately from any classification assigned by the archive. Where no original title is recorded, the record states that it is not recorded.
Principle 03
Classification is description, not endorsement
An archive classification describes the type of evidence a record represents. It does not endorse every claim appearing inside a historical source, and it does not convert a source into a stronger form of evidence than it is.
Principle 04
Photographs document what they depict
A photograph documents the event, place, or people depicted in it. It does not by itself establish legal or diplomatic recognition, government acceptance, or the existence of an instrument.
Principle 05
Government contact is not government recognition
Documented contact with a government office, institution, or United Nations premises is recorded as contact. Contact with a government is distinguished in the catalogue from recognition, endorsement, or sponsorship by that government or body.
Principle 06
Traditional and Indigenous relationships stand on their own terms
Customary, chiefly, and Indigenous-to-Indigenous relationships are documented in the terms in which they were expressed. They are recorded as their own category of relationship and are distinguished from formal state recognition.
Principle 07
Missing information is identified, not supplied
Where a date, name, location, title, or issuing body is not held in the archive, the record states that it is not documented. Absent information is never inferred, reconstructed, or filled in.
Periods
Historical Hawaiian Kingdom and contemporary Kingdom of Atooi
Every record in the archive is classed either as a Historical Hawaiian Kingdom Record or as a Contemporary Atooi Record, and the class is shown on the record's own page.
Historical Hawaiian Kingdom records document the institutions, laws, diplomacy, and governmental activity of the historical Kingdom. Their inclusion does not by itself establish the authority of any particular contemporary claimant. Contemporary claims of continuity, succession, genealogy, or authority are documented separately.
Historical Hawaiian Kingdom documentation establishes historical facts — that a treaty, statute, decree, or diplomatic relation existed. It does not by itself prove the authority of any particular contemporary claimant. Claims of continuity between the historical Hawaiian Kingdom and the contemporary Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi are made and documented separately, on genealogical, customary, and legal grounds; they are classified as continuity claims and are neither established nor diminished by the historical documents themselves.
- Historical Hawaiian Kingdom
- Records originating with the Hawaiian Kingdom as a historical state: historic treaties, historic statutes, historic royal decrees, historic diplomatic relations, and historical governmental records. These establish the historical record of that period.
- Contemporary Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi
- Records of the modern Kingdom: modern governance and leadership, traditional and customary recognition, missions and journeys, ceremonies, Indigenous agreements, United Nations activity, and modern Kingdom-issued material.
- Era not documented
- The archive records no date for the item, so it is not assigned to either period rather than being guessed.
Classification
Archive classification categories
These categories represent different forms of relationship and should not be treated as interchangeable.
Traditional, Indigenous, royal, and chiefly recognition is documented on its own terms and is not treated as insignificant merely because it differs from modern interstate diplomatic recognition.
- Formal State Recognition
- A state government has, in a document held or cited by the archive, formally recognised the Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi. This category is applied only where such a document exists in the archive.
- Government Contact
- Documented contact with a government office, agency, or official — correspondence, receipt, filing, or a meeting. Contact is not recognition, endorsement, or acceptance.
- United Nations Activity
- Attendance at, or activity on, United Nations premises or at United Nations forums. Presence or activity is not recognition, membership, or accreditation by the United Nations.
- Indigenous Nation Relationship
- A documented relationship or exchange with another Indigenous nation or Indigenous governing body, on its own terms.
- Traditional / Customary Recognition
- A relationship expressed through customary protocol, kinship, or traditional authority rather than through instruments of state.
- Royal / Chiefly Relationship
- A documented relationship between the Aliʻi Nui or the Royal House and another hereditary, royal, or chiefly house.
- Ceremonial Recognition
- Honours, welcomes, investitures, or protocol observances extended in a ceremonial setting. Ceremonial acts are cultural and customary, not legal or diplomatic determinations.
- Institutional Relationship
- A documented relationship with a non-governmental institution — academic, ecclesiastical, civic, conservation, or professional.
- Cultural Diplomacy
- Cultural exchange, performance, gifting, language, or heritage work carried out with counterparts abroad or at home.
- Photographic Documentation
- A photograph documenting a person, place, object, or occasion. A photograph documents what is visible in it and establishes nothing beyond that.
Sources
Source hierarchy
Different source types establish different things. This list sets out what each kind of source in the archive can and cannot show. It is a description of evidentiary function, not a ranking of importance: a record placed lower in the list is not less genuine, and a record placed higher is not automatically correct. Every record is read for what its own source is capable of establishing.
Kingdom-issued records are never described as independent corroboration. A document the Kingdom itself issued establishes what the Kingdom recorded, decreed or asserted — it does not, on its own, establish that any outside government, institution or person accepted it.
Traditional, oral and genealogical records are not treated as inferior evidence because they are not government documents. They are the customary form in which Polynesian and Indigenous knowledge is held and transmitted, and the archive records them in their own terms. The absence of Western documentation is not treated as evidence that a traditional record is false.
- PRIMARY GOVERNMENT / INSTITUTIONAL RECORD
- A document created and issued by a government, court, parliament, treaty body or comparable institution. Establishes the official act, statute, proceeding or determination it records, in the terms that institution used.
- Does not establish anything beyond its own text, and — where it concerns the historical Hawaiian Kingdom — does not establish the authority of any contemporary claimant.
- COUNTERPARTY RECORD
- A document, letter, decree, programme or published statement issued by the other party to an exchange. Establishes that the counterparty recorded the meeting, correspondence or agreement in its own words.
- Does not establish state recognition, accreditation or any legal status unless the counterparty document says so explicitly.
- INDEPENDENT THIRD-PARTY SOURCE
- Press reporting, published scholarship, institutional programmes or other material produced by a party with no interest in the outcome. Establishes that the event or statement was observed and reported outside the Kingdom.
- Does not establish that the reporter's characterisations, titles or conclusions are accurate; publishers' wording is attributed to the publisher.
- KINGDOM-ISSUED RECORD
- A proclamation, decree, appointment, register entry, certificate or statement issued by the Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi. Establishes what the Kingdom itself recorded, decreed or asserted, and when.
- Is not independent corroboration. Does not establish that any outside government, institution or person recognised, accepted or acted upon it.
- PHOTOGRAPHIC / VIDEO RECORD
- A photograph or recording. Establishes that the depicted persons, objects or activity were present together at the moment of capture, so far as the image itself shows.
- Does not establish the date, place, identities or titles of those depicted unless documented separately, and does not establish jurisdiction, treaty relations or state recognition.
- TRADITIONAL / ORAL / GENEALOGICAL RECORD
- Moʻokūʻauhau, chant, customary attestation, chiefly acknowledgement and family oral history. Establishes what the tradition and its custodians maintain and transmit, and the standing accorded within customary practice.
- Does not establish independent documentary corroboration of individual generations or events, which is recorded separately where it exists.
- UNVERIFIED OR INCOMPLETE RECORD
- A record held by the archive whose date, place, participants or provenance are missing, contested or unresolved. Establishes only that the archive holds the item.
- Does not establish any fact asserted in or about it. Such records are marked and retained rather than removed, pending verification.
Corroboration
Corroboration classifications
Corroboration statuses describe where the supporting evidence for a record currently comes from. They are descriptive categories, not scores or rankings, and they do not grade the importance of a record.
- INDEPENDENTLY CORROBORATED
- Meaningful outside evidence supports the record.
- COUNTERPARTY CORROBORATED
- The participating outside organization or authority provides supporting documentation.
- PARTIALLY CORROBORATED
- Some outside evidence exists but does not establish the entire claim.
- KINGDOM DOCUMENTATION
- Evidence currently comes primarily from Atooi records.
- TRADITIONAL / ORAL RECORD
- Evidence primarily derives from customary, genealogical, oral, or traditional sources.
- NO ADDITIONAL CORROBORATION LOCATED
- No further supporting evidence has been located in the current archive.
Corrections & Record Updates
Corrections and record updates
The archive is a developing historical record. Names, dates, titles, locations, descriptions, and evidence classifications may be corrected when stronger documentation becomes available.
Corrections preserve the underlying archival record while updating inaccurate or incomplete metadata.
Corrections may be submitted to corrections@kingdomofatooi.com.
Selection
Selection standards
A record is selected for publication only when the archive holds the item itself or a legible reproduction of it, can state how the item came into its custody so far as that is known, and can describe the item from its own face without supplying facts from elsewhere.
Where a date, party, signature, seal or place is illegible or absent, the field records that it is not yet documented in the public archive. Missing information is identified; it is never inferred, reconstructed or filled in from expectation.
Records held by the archive but not yet reviewed remain unpublished. Absence from the public register means the review is incomplete, not that the item does not exist.
Provenance
Provenance review
Before publication, an archive administrator reviews the title, date, named parties, provenance, custodial history, evidentiary significance, stated limitations, page order, any redactions, and every rendered page of the reference copy. Publication requires each of these to be confirmed.
A preservation original is never altered. A cryptographic checksum is calculated when the original is deposited and shown on the record page, so that a copy in circulation can be compared against the deposited item.
Where the archive cannot establish the holding institution, the certifying officer, or the route by which a reproduction reached the Kingdom, the record says so.
Terms
Possession, publication, verification, ratification, recognition
These five words are not interchangeable, and the archive uses each in one sense only.
- Possession
- The archive physically or digitally holds the item. Possession says nothing about who wrote it, whether it is authentic, or what legal effect it has.
- Publication
- The archive has catalogued the item and made a marked reference copy readable to the public. Publication confirms that the Kingdom holds or has reviewed the record. It is not endorsement of the claims inside it.
- Verification
- A stated element of the record — a date, a signature, a seal, a certifying office — has been checked against an independent source, and the record names that source. Verification is recorded field by field, never as a blanket status.
- Ratification
- A competent authority has formally adopted an instrument by the procedure that instrument requires. Ratification is stated only where the archive holds the ratifying act itself.
- Recognition
- A sovereign state, acting through its government, has formally recognised another entity. Attendance at a meeting, a receipt stamp, an acknowledgement of correspondence, a cultural or Indigenous-to-Indigenous agreement, or a declaration produced by an organisation is never described as recognition by a state.
Redaction & Privacy
Redaction and privacy
Reference copies may be redacted to remove personal addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, financial account details, identity-document numbers, and information that could place a living person at risk. Every redaction is noted on the record page; a redaction is never made silently and never to change the meaning of a document.
Culturally sensitive material, including material concerning burial sites and restricted ceremonial knowledge, is withheld or limited at the direction of the relevant custodians.
Records produced by another nation or organisation are published only with that body's consent.
When a reference copy is read, the archive logs the record, the page and a truncated, salted hash of the requesting network address for rate limiting and abuse correlation. Full addresses are not retained, and these entries are deleted after 180 days. See the Privacy Policy.
Access
Higher-resolution review copies, and reporting alteration or impersonation
Government offices, researchers, journalists and parties named in a record may request a higher-resolution review copy through the archive access request form. A request states the requester's name, institution, country and purpose. Approved requests receive a marked copy for a limited period; preservation originals are not released.
The public reading room shows a marked reference copy, not an original instrument. If you encounter a document presented as an original of this archive, an altered copy, or a person or office claiming to act for the Kingdom's archive, report it to corrections@kingdomofatooi.com with the document identifier and, where possible, the source. Any published record can be checked against its catalogue entry and checksum on the record verification page.
Related pages: Research and Documentation Standards · Kingdom Archives