LibGuides: Asian American Studies Research Guide: Find Web Materials

Introduction

Image Credit: Pamela Lee with her grandmother Eunkee Lee, 1958. (Shades of L.A. Collection, Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection)

Web Resources
A list of websites and Open Access digital collections relevant to Asian American Studies follows below. These include reference and statistical information, text resources, digital image collections and oral histories and are often situated in larger digital archives, such as Library of Congress, Calisphere, the Online Archive of California, and collections from other academic institutions.

Asian American Studies resources

Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
From 1910 to 1940, Angel Island was the site of an US Immigration Station that functioned as the West Coast equivalent of Ellis Island. The foundation helps document its history and that of the many Asian immigrants arriving through Angel Island.
artasiaamerica
A historical image & document archive of Asian American visual culture from 1945 to the present.
Asian-Nation
Information resource site maintained by Prof. C.N. Le of UMass, Amherst, Director of the Asian & Asian American Studies Certificate Program. Provides reference overview of the field and helpful links.
Asian/Pacific/American Archives Survey Project
The NYU-based project maps Asian/Pacific/American (A/P/A) archival collections in the NY area. Though many are not publicly accessible and/or digitized, they provide examples of archival activity for Asian American experiences.
Asian American Art Oral History Project
Collects oral histories of Asian/Asian American artists and key organizers and participants of Asian/Asian American arts and cultural organizations, primarily in the Midwest.
Asian Americans and Seattle's Civil Rights History
A gateway to the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project resources for exploring the civil rights activism of Asian Americans in the Pacific Northwest. Included are activist oral histories, research reports, newspaper reports, photographic collections, maps, historical documents.
California Cultures: Asian Americans (Calisphere)
Includes five digital exhibits of historical photographs covering the Asian American experience in California.
Calisphere
Calisphere provides access to more than 2,000 collections contributed by more than 300 cultural heritage organizations (libraries, archives, museums, and historical societies) in California. Use > keywords in a title search to find relevant collections.
Center for Oral History (University of Hawai'i)
Provides oral histories, podcasts, and other Hawaiian digital collections.
Dragon Fruit Project
An intergenerational oral history project that explores queer Asian and Pacific Islanders and their activism & experiences in the 1960s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.
Houston Asian American Archive
Located at Rice University, the archive collects, documents, and preserves the lived experiences of the Asian diaspora in Houston. Includes extensive interviews/oral histories.
Tending Our Roots
Sponsored by the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, stories about making places of belonging in AAPI America.
University of Hawai'i Library Digital Collections
Includes both textual and image collections.

Chinese & Taiwanese American Studies Resources

Chinese American Experience, 1857-1892
Site describing the Chinese American experience in the 19th century, from the reporting, essays, and editorials of Harper's Weekly.
Chinese in California: Selections from the Bancroft Library
Presents a balanced perspective on the Chinese contribution to California and the American West in the 19th and early 20th centuries; the rampant anti-Chinese sentiment encountered by these immigrants, eventually leading to the federal Chinese Exclusion Act of 1892 (repealed in 1943); and settlement and development in various communities, including San Francisco's Chinatown.
China Society of Southern California Collection
From USC Libraries, this collection consists of the Society’s documents, its Bulletin, meeting minutes, correspondence, financial records and various other records of their activities from 1935-2015..
Chinese Historical Society of Southern CA Collection, 1880-1933
Documents physical artifacts excavated from Los Angeles Chinatown and a Chinese laundry in Santa Barbara. These materials represent a valuable resource for reconstructing Chinese working class daily life in CA.
Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project
This Stanford University research project seeks to give a voice to the Chinese migrants whose labor on the Transcontinental Railroad helped to shape the physical and social landscape of the American West. Includes an extensive bibliography, oral histories, & digital repository.
Taiwanese American Archives
This archive currently consists of issues of the Pacific Times, a weekly Taiwanese American newspaper published in Los Angeles.

Filipino American Studies Resouces

Filipino American Library Collection
Materials from the Filipino American Library in Historic Filipinotown in LA revealing the Filipino American experience spanning life in the Philippines, contributions by Filipino Americans in the WW II effort, and the acculturation and growth of the Filipino American community in CA.
Welga Digital Archive
From UC Davis, the Welga Digital Archive - Bulosan Center for Filipino American Studies focuses on preserving and presenting the broad aspects of the Filipino American experience, and includes text documents, photographs, oral histories, etc.

Japanese American Studies Resources

Ansel Adams' Photographs of Japanese-American Internment at Manzanar
Digital collection of Adams' photos of Manzanar War Relocation Center in California and the Japanese-Americans interned there during WW II.
CSU Japanese American Digitization Project
The project includes collections from 17 CSU campuses as well as a wide variety of other institutions, including the Japanese American National Museum, California Historical Society and others.
Densho
Documents the testimonies of Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated during WWII. Oral histories and other primary sources.
History of Japanese Farmers in Texas
From Rice University, a digital humanities project focusing on the earliest Japanese immigrants to Texas.
Japanese American Incarceration Images, 1941-46
From USC Libraries, these photographs from the Hearst Collection of the Los Angeles Examiner documents the incarceration of Japanese Americans.
Japanese American Internment, 1942-46
Digital collection from the Hoover Institution Library & Archives provides an overview of this history, along with documentation.
Japanese American Internment Camp Newspapers, 1942-46
Produced by Japanese-Americans, this collection provides a unique look into the daily lives of the people held in these camps.
Japanese American Relocation Digital Archive
Thousands of primary sources documenting Japanese American internment, including personal diaries, letters, photographs, and drawings, US War Relocation Authority materials, and personal histories.
Online Archive of the Japanese American Relocation during WWII
From 1941-46, Occidental University President & College Librarian preserved letters, articles, pamphlets, & other publications related to Japanese American internment.

Korean American Studies Resources

Korean American Digital Archive (USC)
From USC Libraries, this archive includes textual resources, photographs, & sound files documenting the organizational and private experience of Koreans in America between 1903 and 1965.
Korean American Story
This nonprofit aims to capture, create, preserve and share the stories of the Korean American experience. Includes text stories, podcasts, & videos.
Korean Americans in Los Angeles after 1965
UCLA Library's Center for Oral History Research presents 15 oral histories.

South Asian American Studies Resources

Berkeley South Asian History Archive
Research notes from the Berkeley South Asian Radical History Walking Tour, documenting South Asian American histories in Berkeley, the San Francisco Bay Area, and CA more broadly.
Echoes of Freedom
UC Berkeley Library digital exhibit on South Asian pioneers in CA, 1899-1965.
Punjabi and Sikh Digital Archive
UC Davis presents this digital archive of the Punjabi community in California’s Sacramento Valley since the turn of the twentieth century in over 700 photographs, video interviews, music performances, and diaries.
South Asian American Digital Archive
Digital archive documenting the stories of South Asian Americas. Has an excellent browse function that supports searching by time period, language, states, and sources.
South Asian Oral History Project
University of WA Libraries provides oral histories of immigrants from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
South Asian Women in Los Angeles
UCLA Library's Center for Oral History Research presents 15 oral histories.

Southeast Asian American Studies Resources

Cambodian Community History and Archive Project
A multilingual (English/Khmer), multimedia website presenting a historical ethnography of the Cambodians in Long Beach. Through photographs, historical documents, audio recordings, and video clips, this website situates the community’s growth to be the largest Cambodian community outside Southeast Asia.
Cambodian Oral History Project
Over 5000 oral histories, hosted by Brigham Young University.
Hmong Oral History Project
Oral histories from the Hmong community collected by Concordia University.
Lao Stories
Laos Stories: Laotian American Oral History Project consists of interviews of Laotian Americans across the US about their life experiences.
Southeast Asian Archive
From UCI Libraries, this digital collection covers the social, cultural, religious, political, and economic life of members of the Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, and Vietnamese diaspora. Includes Viet Stories (oral histories) and more.
Southeast Asian Digital Collections of Primary Sources (University of Washington)
This page contains links to a wide range of primary sources relating to Southeast Asia. NOTE: only the links without a lock icon are freely available to the public.
Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive
From Texas Tech University, this archive seeks to document the American Vietnam experience. Includes Vietnamese American Heritage Project and other relevant materials.