KPV Collection

Content Last Updated: 2025

This website was launched in November, 2017 (preparation started in 2014) as a way to share digitized photos, audio tapes and memorabilia with the people of Northern Mariana Islands/Micronesia. Some photos, tapes, printed materials, art, music and items were accumulated after Kit Porter was hired by the NMI/CNMI to establish Chamorro & Carolinian multilingual/multicultural programs, then to coordinate training and higher education and subsequently to establish Northern Marianas College becoming its first president (1975 - 1983). After 1983, Kit continued to collect mainly books and documents about the Pacific.

There are four sections below:
The Digital Archive includes digitized documents, images, audio & videos. The Physical Archive has a partial inventory of the book collection and photographs with stories of Pacific Arts & Crafts.
Kit's Historic Narratives include a general history, initial information about NMCC/NMC and Chamorro/Carolinian/English Multilingual Multicultural Education, Recent Visits and YouTube stories. A new section was added in April/May 2025 with audio narratives about work & life in the NMI/CNMI from September 1975 to August 1979.
Overviews: Past & Future has Kit's 80th-Year-Plan with related documents, the 2019 Updates and Early Supports to be updated with supporters since the launch of the website.

If you need some help navigating the site or want more information about it, visit 'About the Collection & Website' -- and if that doesn't help, contact us.

-- Kit Porter Van Meter & Michael Sousa

***JANUARY 2025 WE POSTED NEARLY 1,500 PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN BETWEEN 1975-1983. PLEASE HELP IDENTIFY LOCATION, DATE, EVENT, PEOPLE. WE HOPE TO POST MORE LATER IN 2025***SCROLL DOWN TO DA4) IMAGE INVENTORIES 1975-83 TO VIEW

On March 31, 2023 we sent the digitized content of 37 KPV Collection file boxes to the Northern Marianas Humanities Council (NMHC)--now posted on their website. This is roughly 1/3 of that collection with work stopped in March 2020 (COVID).

Scroll down to find our four sections: the Digital Archive, Physical Archive, Kit's Historic Narratives and Overviews: Past & Future

Preparing the Digitized Archive has involved a decade of work: unpacking, identifying, arranging, inventorying, digitizing and grouping on the website (after Michael Sousa designed the website). We have met my part of my goal of having this content easily available without cost and locally administered.

Within the 37 DIGITIZED FILE BOXES are 3,014 INVENTORIED RECORDS; 2,584 DIGITIZED RECORDS; 62,254 DIGITIZED PAGES. Between Jan 1 and March 31, 2023 (90 days) we had 1,147 visits to kpvcollection.com: Click here for more information about the collection.

NMHC partially funded work on this project in 2015/16 & 2019 with the goal that they would eventually be able to host. If you have questions, please content Roberto Santos.

DA1) Collection Index
& General Content

Collection Index & Content

This inventory contains the entire box index for the KPV Collection. Documents are linked as they are scanned and can be found in boxes -- there are three subsets of the collection: general, education & culture, and newsletters, magazines, press releases, & UN reports.