Collection
Southeast Asian Archive (UC Irvine)
The Southeast Asian Archive at the UC Irvine Libraries documents the Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian and Vietnamese diasporas in the United States.[1] Its records cover the social, cultural, religious, political and economic life of these communities.[1]
History
The idea for the archive came from within the community. In the mid-1980s Dr. Pham Cao Du’o’ng, a member of the Orange County Vietnamese American community, proposed it to university officials. The UC Irvine Libraries founded the archive in 1987 to document the new Southeast Asian population of Orange County.[2][1]
The first materials came from donors in California, elsewhere in the United States and abroad. Many told of the donors' own lives as refugees and of the culture and history of their homelands. Refugee workers and American veterans also gave material.[2] Over time the archive widened its scope to Americans of Southeast Asian origin across the country, including smaller groups such as the Cham, Tai Dam, Kmhmu, Iu Mien and Lahu, while keeping its focus on Orange County and California. An advisory board of community members and academics was formed in 1993 to strengthen outreach and help gather materials. The archive has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the California State Library.[2]
Material coverage
The collections begin with the departures from Southeast Asia in 1975. Their strengths are refugee camp experiences, resettlement in the United States and beyond, and the growth of new communities since the Vietnam War. They also document the Cambodian genocide and the upheaval in the former French-ruled "Indochina" in the second half of the 20th century, and they give particular attention to communities that are under-documented in the historical record.[1][2] Cambodian American topics run through the holdings, alongside refugee camps, refugee children, mental health services, small business, traditional medicine and literature by Cambodian American, Hmong American and Vietnamese American authors.[3]
The materials are in English and Southeast Asian languages. They include art, artifacts, books, correspondence, theses and dissertations, films, videos, audiotapes, government documents, photographs, posters, reports, organizational records and personal papers.[2] The Vertical Files fill more than 55 file drawers with newspaper and journal articles, newsletters and ephemera such as fliers, brochures and programs. Most are in English, and they include a large set of newsletters in Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian. Their subjects include Cambodian American organizations, college students, communities and education.[3]
The Southeast Asian Archive Collection of Serials (MS.SEA.047) gathers more than 400 serial titles from North America, Europe and Southeast Asia, with four or fewer issues of each. It fills 18 linear feet, about 5.5 meters, in eight drawers, and covers 1962 to 2008. Most of it is in Vietnamese, English and Khmer, with some material in French, Hmong and Lao.[4]
Some records need care. Records from international aid workers may include people who were documented without knowing or without consent, and may show graphic violence, nudity, and racist or sexist views. Some records use terms common in government and scholarly writing that Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian and Vietnamese people have not adopted or agreed to. Historical collections and their metadata may carry language or imagery now recognized as inappropriate to publish without context or community consultation. The UC Irvine Libraries are carrying out reparative, ethical description work on these records.[1]
Catalog and access
The collections are held in Special Collections and Archives and in the Orange County and Southeast Asian Archive Center at the UC Irvine Libraries. The general collection, special collections and archival materials are searchable through UC Irvine Library Search and the Online Archive of California.[1] No credentials or approvals are needed to use the archive. A UC library card is needed to borrow circulating materials, which are also available through interlibrary loan.[2]
- Southeast Asian Archive
- Southeast Asian Archive: Research
- Collection of Serials (MS.SEA.047), Online Archive of California
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 UC Irvine Southeast Asian Archive
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 UC Irvine Libraries, Southeast Asian Archive brochure (English)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 UC Irvine Southeast Asian Archive, Research
- ↑ Online Archive of California, Guide to the Southeast Asian Archive Collection of Serials MS.SEA.047