Ihe., ca 1967-1976

This subseries contains Tokelauan folk tales collected in the field by Huntsman between 1967 and 1976. In Tokelauan tala are tales that recount historical events which are believed to have actually happened while kakai are fictional tales.

Huntsman began recording kakai in late 1967 with the tale of Te Kea The Turtle told to entertain two turtles who had been captured offshore in Nukunonu. The Nukunonu story tellers were keen to have their performances recorded and the retired catechist, Peato Perez, and senior schoolteacher, Pio Tuia, transcribed many of the recordings for Huntsman. By September 1968, a considerable corpus of tales had been recorded and transcribed. From late 1969 to 1976 many more kakai were recorded, and most were transcribed by Toloa Poasa ( a Fakaofo elder) resident in Auckland. Huntsman notes that although these transcriptions capture the story they do not always record the exact words of the original teller.

Initially Huntsman did rough translations of the tales herself, sometimes consulting the tellers for clarification. She produced two working papers (Tokelau text/English translation) as teaching materials and then sent copies of the Tokelau texts to Tokelau. Some tales were later translated by more competent translators for other publications.

In 2005, Nigel Champion, manager of the University of Auckland's Archive of Maori and Pacific Music, and Keli Kalolo, then Tokelau Director of Education, transferred the taped recordings to 16 CDs. Kalolo selected a number of the recordings for reproduction and sale through the Education Department. These recordings can be accessed through the Archive of Maori and Pacific Music.

The material in this subseries has been divided into three further sections. The first set of material comprise numbered files each containing material relating to a particular folk tale. These folders were numbered by Huntsman and controlled using a set of index cards (see item). Huntsman's original system of arrangement and numbering for these files has been retained.

Typically each file contains different versions of the tale and, translations of the tale; both in draft form and typescript form with a reference to the tape containing the original recording of the tale. The accompanying index cards record the name of the tale, the date recorded, where recorded, who was telling the tale, and the situation of recording – for example: to a large audience who had come to be entertained. The cards also note the Archive of Maori and Pacific Music reference number for that particular tale.

Please note there are some numbers which had an index card entry but no file of material. Some of these missing files relate to tala and can be found with papers relating to Tokelau a historical ethnography as they were used during the writing of the publication.

The second set of material within this subseries contains Toloa Poasa's handwritten transcriptions. The third set Huntsman’s original field notebooks containing notes on folktales, her drafts and typescripts for publications relating to Tokelau folktales and administrative papers relating to the transfer of the recorded tales to the Archives of Maori and Pacific Music.