History How You Can Assist the Archive Our Mission

The impetus for founding the Archive came from within The Archive actively solicits donations of materials and Documenting The The Southeast Asian Archive of the University of a Southeast Asian American community. Dr. Pha.m Cao financial support for our activities. We are especially , Irvine Libraries has as its sole focus the Du’o’ng, a member of the Orange County Vietnamese interested in materials concerning the activities of Southeast Asian documentation of the refugees and immigrants from the American community, first proposed the idea to UCI organizations, businesses, individuals, and events in former Indochina – Cambodia, , and Vietnam – who officials in the mid-1980s. Southeast Asian American communities. Please contact American Experience have resettled in the United States since the end of the In response, the UC Irvine Libraries established us if you have materials that you would like to donate or in 1975. the Archive in 1987 with the primary purpose of if you would like to make a financial donation. According to the 2000 U.S. census 638,000 Cambodians, documenting the new Southeast Asian population Laotians, and Vietnamese now live in California, For more information please contact: in Orange County. The initial materials came from approximately 40% of the Southeast Asian American donors throughout California, other parts of the United Orange County & Southeast Asian Archive Center population in the United States. Orange County has States, and abroad. Many early items documented the (OC & SEAA) the largest population of Vietnamese outside donors’ personal experiences as refugees and provided Visit: Libraries Gateway Study Center, Room 104 of Vietnam. There are substantial Laotian background information on the culture and history of Mail: UC Irvine Libraries settlements in and the Central P.O. Box 19557 Southeast Asian Archive, their homelands. Other contributions came from refugee Valley in addition to the large San Francisco Irvine, CA 92623-9557 workers and from American veterans. University of California, Irvine Bay Area community. The largest population Email: [email protected] of overseas Cambodians is in nearby Long As the Archive grew, it expanded to include Phone: (949) 824-3947 Libraries of Southeast Asian origin in the United States as a Web: ocseaa.lib.uci.edu Beach. whole, including smaller ethnic groups such as the Given this demographic profile, UCI is the

Cham, Tai Dam, Kmhmu, Iu Mien, and Lahu. The special This brochure is also available in Cambodian, Hmong, Lao, and logical location to document and preserve focus on Orange County and California continues. It Vietnamese at ocseaa.lib.uci.edu the experiences of this new American population became the mission of the Archive to preserve and group. document the social, cultural, religious, political, and Published with support received from economic life of Americans of Southeast Asian origin, the California State Library under the Library Services and Technology beginning with the exodus from Southeast Asia in Act. 1975 and continuing on into the future as their new communities develop. The Archive’s significance has been recognized by the receipt of prestigious grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the California State Library. Collections We Welcome All Visitors The Southeast Asian Archive in Print

The Southeast Asian Archive contains a wide variety Archival collections contain unique materials for Users of the Southeast Asian Archive include college Archibold, Randal C. (1997, January 26). Preserving of materials in English and Southeast Asian languages. researchers. A few examples: and university students and faculty, K-12 teachers and pieces of refugee experience. Times, Collecting has focused on the refugee camp experiences of students, social service agencies, community activists, pp. A1, A20. Mitchell I. Bonner Papers, 1975-1990s. Textual boat people and land refugees, resettlement efforts in the the media, and law firms. No credentials or approvals are materials and photographs primarily documenting the Baø - Ñaïi Hoïc giôùi thieäu thö vieän - United States and beyond, the development and progress necessary for access to the Archive, but a UC library card Anne Frank UCI ’s Southeast Asian American Vaên Khoá Ñoâng Nam AÙ. Vaên Hoùa of new ethnic communities, and – to a lesser extent – the is required to check out circulating materials. Circulating (1999, April-May). 44, communities, focusing on Laotian Americans. culture and history of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam as materials also may be requested through Interlibrary A47-48. they reflect the cultural origins of the refugees. Kim Hà Papers, 1983-1997. Manuscript of Kim Hà’s Loan. Most materials can be photocopied or scanned. Fujita-Rony, Dorothy, & Frank, Anne. (2003). Archiving published account of her family’s escape from Vietnam Types of materials found in the Archive include: histories: The Southeast Asian Archive at University of by land to refugee camps in Thailand. California, Irvine. Amerasia Journal 29(1): 153-164. • art (paintings, drawings) Community Outreach Brigitte Marshall Papers, 1980s-1990s. Printed and • artifacts audiovisual materials documenting refugees (primarily Southeast Asian communities have given much to the • articles from magazines & journals Hmong) in camps in Thailand and their resettlement in Archive in terms of knowledge, contacts, expertise, and • books California, mainly in the Central Valley. collection donations. In return, the Archive gives back as • business directories actively as possible. Southeast Asian Resource Action Center (SEARAC) • correspondence Records, 1975-1996. Files of this major center located An Advisory Board composed of community members • dissertations & theses in , D.C. which was established to assist and academics was formed in 1993 to enhance the • ephemeral materials (fliers, resettlement of refugees nationwide. Archive’s outreach efforts, maintain an active contact brochures, programs, etc.) between the community and the university, and assist in • films/videos/audiotapes obtaining materials. • government documents Tours of the Archive are frequently given to classes, • magazines & journals community members, campus visitors, and others. • newsletters • newspaper clippings The Archive’s website (seaa.lib.uci.edu) describes the • organizational records collections in detail, including extensive guides to the archival materials, thesaurus • pamphlets for the Vertical File materials, and a link • personal narratives to SEAADoc, a free educational resource & papers of 1,500 visual images and 4,000 pages of • photographs searchable text selected from the Archive. • posters • refugee orientation materials • reports • surveys