Asian American Studies

University of California-sponsored digital archive of documents and images. Includes collections on Cambodian Americans, Chinese Americans, Filipino Americans, Hmong Americans, Japanese Americans, Korean Americans, Laotian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Vietnamese Americans

The University Library Digital Collections feature historically significant documents, photographs, oral histories, artistic works and exhibit materials selected from the University Special Collections and Archives. Additional project contributors include local heritage organizations, neighboring academic institutions and private collectors. The majority of these collections focus on Los Angeles history with emphasis on the San Fernando Valley. Other collections include digital reproductions of documents from the Civil War, Slavery and it's aftermath, Chinese antiquities, and photographs from our Old China Hands Archives that document the experiences of foreign residents of China in 1946. The CSU Japanese American Digitization Project brings together diverse World War II documents from across fifteen campuses of the California State University system.

There are images spanning from the 1870s until now that may be potentially relevant for a project.

Eileen Chang (Ailing Zhang, 1920-1995) was one of the most influential Chinese writers of the twentieth century. The digitized portion of her collection available online here dates from 1919 to 1994.

The Library/Reading Room welcomes all campus and community users seeking information and resources on Asian American and Pacific Islanders. The special research collection is open throughout the academic fall, winter, and spring quarters during the following days and times:

The Asian Pacific Resource Center (APRC) established in 1979, is a special collection of LA County Library located in the Rosemead Library. Its scope encompasses both academic materials as well as film, music, novels, magazines, and newspapers. The emphasis of the collection is on the Asian American / Pacific Islander American experience, with core holdings on the history, art, and culture - of China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Hawaii, and American Samoa.

The China Society of Southern California has held meetings and events in Los Angeles since 1935, focusing on promoting an appreciation of Chinese culture. The collection consists of the Society’s foundation documents (constitution, by-laws), its Bulletin, meeting minutes, correspondence, financial records and various other records of their activities over the course of the last eighty years (1935-2015).

The Chinese Exclusion Act (PDF, 428KB) of 1882 was signed into law on May 6, 1882. Officially titled "An act to execute certain treaty stipulations relating to Chinese," the Chinese Exclusion Act prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers for ten years. It was extended in 1892 for another ten years by the Geary Act and then made permanent in 1902.

The Chinese Historical Society of Southern California Collection documents artifacts systematically excavated from two sites in Southern California. The first site is represented by about 1,040 color images of artifacts from the original Los Angeles Chinatown; an additional 150 images document artifacts from the site of a Chinese laundry in Santa Barbara.

Densho's mission is to preserve the history and stories of Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II in camps in the US. Access to Densho's digital archive of internment camp newspapers and other primary sources is available with free registration; other materials are available without registering

The advent of the railroad brought about many changes to the United States, including an early wave of Chinese immigration to America. Chinese laborers were the backbone of the Transcontinental Railroad’s creation, and worked diligently in other difficult industrial jobs for low wages.

Thirty years ago the Los Angeles Public Library embarked on a ground-breaking, collection-building project—reaching out to the diverse communities of the region for family photographs that would provide depth and nuance to an understanding of this region’s multi-cultural history.

The Filipino American Library Collection consists of materials owned by the Filipino American Library in Historic Filipinotown that were transferred to the University of Southern California Special Collections in 2017. The Filipino-American Library was founded in a church basement in 1985 as the Pilipino American Reading Room and Library (PARRAL) in a neighborhood close to Echo Park by Helen Agcaoili Summers Brown, affectionately referred to as “Auntie Helen” in the local community.

Founded in 1982, the Seattle-based Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) is a community-based organization whose mission is “...to preserve, document, and present Filipino American history and to support scholarly research and artistic works which reflect that rich past...”

The Hanashi Oral History Program subcollection is comprised of approximately 1,100 oral histories of Japanese-American WWII veterans and their contemporaries in the war effort gathered by the Go for Broke National Education Center.

Produced by the Japanese-Americans interned at assembly centers and relocation centers around the country during World War II, these newspapers provide a unique look into the daily lives of the people who were held in these camps. They include articles written in English and Japanese, typed, handwritten and drawn. They advertise community events, provide logistical information about the camps and relocation, report on news from the community, and include editorials.

This collection of photographs from the Hearst Collection of the Los Angeles Examiner in the USC Regional History Collection, documents the incarceration of Japanese Americans in California during World War II.

As the national repository of Japanese American history, JANM creates groundbreaking historical and arts exhibitions, educational public programs, award-winning documentaries, and innovative curriculum that illuminate the stories and the rich cultural heritage of people of Japanese ancestry in the United States.

The CSU Japanese American Digitization Project, the 23-campus California State University system archives, and other, similar collections across the state now offer scholars, librarians, archivists, educators and the interested public far easier access to a wide variety of archival material about this crucial subject.

From the University of California, this collection includes photographs, letters and diaries, oral histories, art, and more.

This collection brings more than 13,000 pages of documents, over 1,900 photographs, and about 180 sound files together in one searchable collection that documents the Korean American community during the period of resistance to Japanese rule in Korea and reveal the organizational and private experience of Koreans in America between 1903 and 1965.

Located in Seattle, this organization is dedicated to enriching the collective memory of Korean Americans through collecting, maintaining, and transmitting the heritage and achievements of Koreans living in the United States and abroad.

This collection contains materials from Americans who spent important parts of their lives in Korea.

The Korean Periodicals collection contains runs and individual issues of Korean-language serials -- newspapers and journals.

Founded in 1980, incorporated in 1981 is a non-profit membership organization is dedicated to the collection, preservation, authentic interpretation, and sharing of historical information of the Japanese American experience for the diverse broader national and global community. Originally named Go For Broke, NJAHS changed its name in 1986 to reflect its efforts to share the broader story of this community.

The Huntington Library houses an array of materials for the study of the Pacific Rim, a region of immense breadth, with a diverse network of people, cultures, and societies. Geographical coverage is strongest for California, China, Hawaii, Japan, and the Philippines, with a current collecting emphasis on Chinese-American and Japanese-American history in Southern California.

Over 1,500 images and 4,000 textual documents selected from the Southeast Asian Archive

Founded in 2008, in Philadelphia, PA,in order to document and provide access to the diverse and relatively unknown stories of South Asian Americans. This archive collects information from he South Asian diaspora in the United States, including those who trace their heritage to Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the many South Asian diaspora communities across the globe.

Part of UC Berekely's South/Southeat Asia Library. Includes bibliographies, findng aids for South Asians in North America collection and information about the Archive of the South Asian Diaspora

Thousands of images, audio, video, and documents, organized by collection and fully searchable, from the California Digital Library

This UC-Irvine site provides information about its special collections concerning the experience of Vietnamese, Laotian/Hmong, and Cambodian people in the US and diaspora.

Susan Hanley is a professional photographer who took a large number of photographs in Korea in the 1950s.

The Taiwanese American Archive (TAA) started as a Los Angeles as Subject Resident Archivist project. Eventually, the hope is that the Taiwanese American Archive would bring together documents, photographs, oral histories, moving images, ephemera, and more to preserve and give access to Taiwanese American community life, starting from the 1960's, to document the history, family and community life, political activism, and academic and social contributions of Taiwanese Americans.

from the Hearst Collection of the Los Angeles Examiner, this collection documents the relocation of Japanese Americans in California during World War II. These 222 photographs provide a glimpse into the lives of Japanese immigrants and native born Japanese Americans (a.k.a. Nisei) residing in California from 1921 to 1958.

The mission of this archive is to collect and preserve the documentary record of the Vietnam War, and supports and encourages research and education regarding all aspects of the American Vietnam Experience.

These are stories that have been collected directly from Vietnamese communities around the globe and curated into categories. The project originated in Canada.

Hundreds of audio/video oral histories with transcripts (English and Vietnamese)

K .W. Lee is a widely recognized reporter, editor, and publisher of stories relating to the Korean-American immigrant experience. He wrote for the Korean Messenger, Koreatown, Korea Times, and the Sacramento Union, and was a broadcast reporter for KCRA-Channel 3.

This archive offers a window into the story of South Asian immigrants from the Punjab region in north India to California since the turn of the twentieth century. Explore over 700 video interviews, speeches, diaries, photographs, articles, and letters in which Punjabi Americans share their life stories, values, and contributions to California’s history over the last hundred and twenty years.

The Japantown Atlas maps nearly two dozen communities in California where Japanese Americans lived and worked prior to World War II. Drawing from historic maps, business directories, and photos, we show a variety of Japantowns as they existed in 1940.

The Chinese in California, 1850-1925 illustrates nineteenth and early twentieth century Chinese immigration to California through about 8,000 images and pages of primary source materials. Included are photographs, original art, cartoons and other illustrations; letters, excerpts from diaries, business records, and legal documents; as well as pamphlets, broadsides, speeches, sheet music, and other printed matter.

The Welga Project Digital Archive and Repository focuses on preserving and presenting primary sources regarding the Filipino American activism, labor, and immigration history. The majority of the collection focuses on Filipino involvement in the Delano Grape Strikes and United Farm Worker history.

Non-profit organization committed to preserving the history of Asian-American immigration in the US.