Newspaper Clippings File
One of the resources we are developing in the Archive is a file of newspaper clippings, as there is lots of information in newspapers about contemporary Southeast Asian American communities. Sometimes it is the only source. Articles vary from straightforward reporting of local events and incidents to more extensive articles and special sections on such topics as Amerasians, the police community relationship, and Vietnamese American high school students.
Most articles date from 1987, when the Southeast Asian Archive began. However, the Archive was given a collections, dated circa 1975, concerning the first wave of Vietnamese refugees. These have not yet been processed. Clippings are photocopied on acid-free paper and then filed according to a list of subjects. The majority of the articles come from the Los Angeles Times, (Orange County edition), and the Orange County Register. Also represented, however, are the San Diego Union, San Jose Mercury-News, Sacramento Bee, Fresno Bee, San Francisco Chronicle, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the New York Times.
The emphasis is on California, although not limited to that geographical area. In fact, one file concerns Vietnamese in Europe, and there are files on Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.
A wide variety of topics is represented: festivals, resettlement and relocation experiences, art, Buddhism, business, film, race relations, mental health, garment industry, earthquakes, even local restaurants, to name a few. There is a special effort to group together articles on timely subjects, e.g., economic sanctions, refugees, activities and opinions of Southeast Asian Americans in regards to their native countries, hate crimes, and AIDS.
Due to the nature of newspapers (every day there is another one!) we're never up-to-date and there is always a backlog of articles to photocopy and file. It is a very labor-intensive activity. However, it forms a valuable record of daily events and pertinent issues in present-day Southeast Asian American life.
