The Asian-American Pacific Islander Collection

The AAPI collection scattered in 26 divisions includes monographs, periodicals, serials, government reports, census data, photographs, oral histories, sound recordings, film, and miscellaneous ephemera.  Our current focus is on primary materials of interest to researchers and scholars, such as

• Founding papers of social and cultural organizations,
• unpublished theses on issues that directly affect Asian communities,
• documentation of migration arrivals,
• oral histories, diaries, letters,
• community records of cultural organizations,  early church affiliation,
• community newsletters, journals and newspapers,
• documentation of early migrant labor movements & student activism,
• curriculum listings of language and heritage schools.

The building of the nation’s Asian-American Pacific Islander Collection cannot be delayed, nor procrastinated over, for a more propitious time. It is imperative that Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, as communities, are made aware of the importance of legacy-building for the generations who will study the hidden history of their forefathers who arrived as immigrants and struggled to make permanent their rights as citizens of the United States of America.

AAPI Special Collections

• 06101    The Carlos Bulosan Archive houses presentation papers from the Carlos Bulosan Symposium: America is in the Heart in the 21st Century, April 2006, Library of Congress. Contents: Original published format of The Power and The Glory as an insert in a Canadian newsprint; copy of Saturday Evening Post Magazine containing “Freedom From Want”; Local 37 Cannery Workers yearbook, edited by CB; DVD of Ma-Yi Theater’s The Romance of Magno Rubio; redacted document from FBI files re letter by CB on Luis Taruc; copy of inventory of Bulosan archival collection at Univ. of Washington; and copies of CB’s short stories & poems in Town & Country, Harper’s, POETRY etc. (1936-1946).  
• 07101    The Betty Lee Sung Collection: Accumulated during the last 50 years and  consists of Prof. Sung’s own publications, 100 conference proceedings, yearbooks, directories, historical photographs, and newspaper clippings with articles dated as early as the beginning of the 20th century up to 2005. Also: early newsletters of Asian American organizations.  The scarcity of some of the early newspapers from various cities, which had only very short runs, or had only the first issues, may represent the only records from the early periods and the only clues to scholars providing a glimpse of Asian American, especially Chinese American, activities of the times. Focuses on the sociological impact of Chinese assimilation into America’s mainstream by inclusion of discussions and reports tangential to the inter-marriage issue, generational conflicts, the proliferation of Chinatowns as either conclaves, ghettos or communities, the fight for Asian American studies in university curricula, empowerment through social and fraternal organizations and the Chinese American contributions to the U.S. economy.
• 08101    Gung Ho! Newsletters (World War II original mimeographed collection still in original binder), 19 issues published by and for the 407th Service Squadron, edited by Cpl. William H. Hoy. (1943-1944; includes a c.1943 map of Shanghai published by the Shanghai Joint Service Commission for Allied Forces and a 1944 Calcutta city guide published by the Red Cross).
• 08102    Philippine Cultural Society. Founding papers of GWU Asian student organization (1979-2008) as part of a pilot to acquire Asian student organizations in universities.
• 08103    Edward I-Sen Wan. Hardbound copy, limited edition, History of the FF Fraternity: Evolution of the Chinese Fraternity in the U.S. (1910-2002). Privately published & distributed to members only.
• 08104    Chinese Students’ Master Theses (various dates).  Two bound reports, from the collection of Carson & Kemay Eeyong.
• 08105    Original 1919 travel papers  issued by the U.S. Embassy to a Filipino “National” (framed for display). Donated by Mrs. Fran Alayu Womack .
• 08106    Chinese Delta Community (1907-2007) centennial commemorative album compiled by Steve & Elsie Yun of Sacramento, CA donated by Pearl Chinn.
• 08107    Filipino American Performing Arts Collection. Research materials, cultural souvenir programs and news clippings, notes and interviews supporting, Towards a Cultural Community: Identity, Education and Stewardship in Filipino American Performing Arts, a Ford Foundation report (2003).
• 08108    Philippine Medical Association of Wisconsin (c. 1960). Founding papers and minutes, donated by P. Emraida Kiram
• 08109    The James Miho Conceptual Diaries: Graphic designer influenced by Bauhaus era. Conceptual diaries (1975-2002), lecture notes,  photographs, correspondence, videotapes, film, posters,  and other ephemera.
• 08110    Pa Kua Chang Journals Collection
• 08111    The Joey Manlapaz Collection
• 08112    The Kiano Game Collection
• 08113    The Jade Snow Wong Collection: ceramic artist & author (1935-2004). Archival family papers, photographs, Chinese school books for elementary and intermediate reading, scrapbooks, as well as documentation of JSW’s role as State Dept. cultural representative in the 1950s.
• 08114    The HAPAG Collection, includes Composer Ryan Cayabyab’s donation of his music compositions. Donated by Gerry Gaddi.
• 09101    The Royal Morales Papers: Filipino American community activist, author and social worker. (1936-2005). Work papers, photographs and files of community youth projects.
• 09102    The Vietnamese-American Archive: housing the constructed files of U.S.-bound refugees from the Vietnamese Overseas Initiative for Consciousness Empowerment (V.O.I.C.E.).  Also includes reports of the UN High Commissioner’s Office; relocation centers, boat-people narratives, U.S. communities, and photographs.
• 09103    The founding papers of Iskwelahang Pilipino, Bedford MA [Philippine Weekend Heritage School]
• 09104    The Cacas & Toribio Family Photo Collection. 
• 09105    The Milagros Gonzalez Jamias Albums & Family Papers.
• 09106    Filipino Veterans Military ephemera: The Cayetano Catura Album and the papers of Dr. Valentin Ildefonso (transferred to Veterans History Project).
• 09107  The Sikh-American Collection
• 10101  The QBd Ink Theater Company Collection
• 10102  The Stephen Shey Kundiman Collection

For inquiries about the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection, email regr@loc.gov or call   (202) 707-6096.