Since the end of the Vietnam Conflict in 1975 a large number of refugees and immigrants from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam have come to the United States, and especially to California. In order to document their experiences in a new culture, the UC Irvine Libraries established the Southeast Asian Archive in 1987. The Archive's collection strengths include materials relating to the resettlement of Southeast Asian refugees and immigrants in the United States, refugee camp and other experiences of the "boat people" and land refugees, and the development and progress of new ethnic communities. There is a special focus on materials pertaining to Southeast Asians in Orange County and California. Holdings are in English and in Southeast Asian languages (primarily Vietnamese), and include books, periodicals, refugee orientation materials, government documents, reports and surveys, newspaper clippings, video and audio recordings, personal and institutional papers, posters, photographs, ephemera, paintings, and dissertations and theses.
Visit the Southeast Asian Archive collections in Special Collections & Archives and in the Orange County & Southeast Asian Archive Center.
Spotlight On
SEAAdoc:
Documenting the Southeast Asian American Experience (Digital Collection)