Auckland Museum has made digitally available a Tusi Fa'alupega that's more than a century old in celebration of Samoa Language Week.
Deputy Chair of Auckland Museum’s Pacific Advisory Group Dr Seulupe Falaniko Tomoniko says: "A Fa'alupega acknowledges the Matai titles from your villages... it's basically a collection of the salutationsfrom each village so people know who are the important Matai and important Taupou from various villages.
"Modern Fa'alupega books not only have the highest of Matai titles representing each village, but they also have their malae, and the names of their sa'o tama'ita'i, and the names of the kava ipu for each Matai."
PMN News reports the Samoa o le Vavau Tusi Fa'alupega was compiled by American theologist William Churchill, but never published.
"I don't think it was set up initially to be a Tusi Fa'alupega, for me I think William Churchill set this up to be a historical article," says Tomoniko.
There have been a few other Tusi Fa'alupegas that have been released, but Tomoniko says what makes Churchill's manuscript interesting is that it was bilingual.
"There's a word that's often used in his Samoan version which is tulouna and his English version of tulouna is 'saving the grace', whereas my understanding of tulouna is that you're excusing yourself tulou, you tulouna before you say the Matai title."
Tomoniko says although translations were interpreted differently, Churchill's motives were good. He wishes he had progressed and published the manuscript.
"It would have been a great resource especially for our New Zealand born, who may have not fully had the grasp of the Samoan language, this would've been a wonderful resource."