National Park Service 

U.S. Department of the Interior 

 

Cultural Resources, Partnerships, and Science 

Find Your 

PLACE

ASIAN AMERICANS + PACIFIC ISLANDERS
COVER: Fumiko Hayashida waits on the Bainbridge Island ferry dock while holding her sleeping daughter in 1942. 

Photograph taken by a Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter. Dorothea Lange/National Archives.

U.S. Department of the Interior

National Park Service

Cultural Resources, Partnerships, and Science

Developed by Paloma Bolasny. Written by Paloma Bolasny and Joe Flanagan with contributions by David Andrews, 

Theodora Chang, Barbara Little, and Franklin Odo. Designed by David Andrews and Beth Pruitt. 

3rd Edition 

April 2016 
TELLING ALL AMERICANS’ STORIES 

ABOVE: South Vietnamese children in new (though mismatched) 

clothes file off a charter bus with their families at Camp Pendleton,

California, June 12, 1975. After their country’s Communist

takeover, tens of thousands were housed in big squad tents here 

while sponsors were lined up. © 1975 by Don Bartletti.

North America’s earliest chapters are 

peopled by immigrants from Asia and 

 the Pacific. Their presence has been both 

enduring and influential. They were a part of 

the early settlement of the country and the 

 economic development of the West. They 

 influenced the desegregation of public schools 

in the 20th century and the politics of the 

21st. They have made a mark in industry, 

architecture, technology, civil rights, and other 

aspects of the American experience. They are 

accomplished citizens in science, academia, 

business, and the arts. They have enriched this 

nation and defended its ideals with patriotism 

and valor. 

 This many-faceted heritage is present in one 

 form or another across the entire nation. Old 

western mining camps, Chinatowns, 

Koreatowns, and Little Manilas connect to this 

heritage. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders 

find legacies in the labor movement in Hawai’i. 

They find their heritage in the Asian 

architectural details that inspired Frank Lloyd 

Wright. Their numbers as the nation’s fastest 

growing “racial” group make them influential. At 20 million people, this group ranges from the 

descendants of immigrants to recently arrived refugees.

The National Park Service honors the contributions of great men and women. It also strives to tell the 

stories of ordinary Americans. These are the many groups whose labor, skill, and sacrifice helped build 

the nation. 

RIGHT: Members of the Filipino Varsity Four,a music group, studied in

the United States in the 1920s under the federal pensionado

program. Courtesy of Records of the Redpath Chautauqua Collection, 

Special Collections Department, University of Iowa. 

1 ASIAN AMERICANS + PACIFIC ISLANDERS
TOP LEFT: The entrance to Hawai’i’s Waipi‘o Valley “required sliding down 

the sides of the cliff and clinging to trees and bushes on the way down,” 

according to an 1823 description cited in Nā Kua‘āina: Living Hawaii 

Culture. Shielded from the sea by sand dunes, it remains today a remote 

oasis bright with fishponds and taro fields. The remoteness has been key to 

preserving place and culture. The environment and its protection are woven 

into a language that personifies forces of nature as spiritual entities. 

BOTTOM LEFT: Taro feeds families and substitutes for money. When the 

sugar and pineapple industries tempted natives with an urban lifestyle, 

some refused to assimilate. They remained in isolated rural pockets. “Why 

live in town?” one said. “You have to buy everything with cash. In the 

country you don’t need much cash.” Both photographs © by Franco 

Salmoiraghi.

The national parks tell the story of Manzanar and Minidoka, 

where Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II. 

At Pu‘uhonua O Hōnaunau National Historical Park and 

Pu‘ukoholā Heiau National Historic Site, we preserve the

ancient culture of native Hawai’ians. We are fortunate to have partners who share our commitment 

to telling these stories. Angel Island, a California state park in San Francisco Bay, was once known as 

the “Ellis Island of the West.” It was here that hundreds of thousands of Asian immigrants hoped for 

a new start in a new world. These sites embody the National Park Service mission to provide a fair 

and inclusive look at American history. The agency has many ways of honoring Asian American and 

Pacific Islander heritage. This includes the National Historic Landmark Program and the National 

Register of Historic Places. 

The National Park Service can do much more than raise awareness. We recognize Asian American 

and Pacific Islander heritage in communities across the United States. We celebrate local history and 

preservation projects. We partner with state, local, and nonprofit groups. The National Park Service 

hopes to inspire institutions and communities through this publication and other efforts. Everyone 

can make a difference in how we appreciate and preserve these places.

THESE SITES EMBODY THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MISSION TO 

PROVIDE A FAIR AND INCLUSIVE LOOK AT AMERICAN HISTORY.

BELOW: A young Hawai’ian woman on the shore of the spring-fed Kapuaiwa Coconut Grove, Kalama‘ula,Moloka‘i.

Water is a key character in the story told by historian Davianna Pōmaika‘i McGregor in her 2007book Nā Kua‘āina:

Living Hawaii Culture. Today, rich evidence remains in traditional water systems that feed the fields of taro, and the 

nature of water—in its many incarnations—is honored in chants and songs. Richard A. Cook III.

ASIAN AMERICANS + PACIFIC ISLANDERS 2

”
ABOVE: In the 1930s, the demolitionof L.A.’s Old Chinatown to make way for Union Station gave rise to China City, an enclave

of stores and restaurants that provideda sense of community for the Chinese Americans working there. Costumed men and

women offered rickshaw rides down narrow,mysterious alleys, buildings modeled after the film The Good Earth. From the 

“Dick” Whittington Studio courtesy of the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

BELOW: Six-year-old Sherry 

Chue reads to five-year-old 

Caroline Wong during reading 

hour at Quincy School in 

Massachusetts, 1946. From the 

Chinese Historical Society of 

New England Collection.

San Jose’s Chinatown lay buried and all but forgotten when 100 years ago, 

it was the victim of a catastrophic fire. In the 1980s, it became the focus 

of an archeological investigation. The recovered objects are now on view 

in an interactive exhibit (www.chinesemuseum.historysanjose.org). This is 

a collaborative, community-based education project. Stanford University, 

History San Jose, Environmental Science Associates, and the Chinese 

Historical and Cultural Project developed the exhibit. It includes artifacts, 

videos, and other materials. It transports visitors to San Jose’s Chinatown, 

a robust example of a thriving Asian culture in America. 

The East at Main project is a fascinating convergence of technology, 

culture, and memory. It is a crowd-sourced database that serves at a 

repository of important places. Users can post photos, memories, 

histories, and other items. It is accessible not only via computer, but also 

through smart phone app (www.apiahip.org). The Asian Pacific Islander 

Americans in Historic Preservation developed the project with help from 

HistoryPin. The National Park Service and the National Trust for Historic 

Preservation provided support. This grassroots preservation project 

engages communities in partnership with archives, libraries, and other 

organizations.

3 ASIAN AMERICANS + PACIFIC ISLANDERS
LEFT: The Angkor Dance Troupe performs at Lowell National Historical 

Park, in Massachusetts, during the Southeast Asian Water Festival. This 

event attracts about 60,000 visitors each year to “thank the spirit of the

water,” in Buddhist tradition. Immigration is a central theme at the park. 

It is home to restored 19th-century textile mills that once drew waves of

Irish, Greeks, Jews, Poles, Lithuanians, Armenians, and FrenchCanadians 

in the 1800s and early 1900s. Andrew Page.

Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage places are as 

diverse as the heritage itself. It does not only include those 

places considered classically “historic.” It includes those that 

define the everyday lives of Asian Americans and Pacific 

Islanders. These are the temples that served as places of 

worship, schools, and social centers. They are sites 

associated with the struggle for school desegregation and 

civil rights. They are fishing and farming communities. They 

are the ethnic enclaves that have been anchors of cultural 

identity and support. 

 Immigration reforms in the mid-sixties and the end of the 

 Vietnam War in 1975 brought large and more varied groups 

to America. They came from Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam,

Indonesia, and India, among other places. The result was a 

wider influence on American life and a more complex character to the Asian American and Pacific 

Islander experience. New-comers established enclaves and changed the urban landscape. They 

strengthened the bonds with their cultures of origin as part of their identities as Americans. 

The Asian American and Pacific Islander experience, as told through place, honors the past and looks 

to the future. How do newer generations of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders view the places that 

define their cultures? What of the idea of place itself? Many historic structures and cultural sites have 

been neglected or destroyed. Seeking out places of Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage—and 

its many voices—is a way to capture the range of this experience. 

We invite communities and organizations to get involved in commemorating Asian American and 

Pacific Islander heritage. Go to www.nps.gov/history to learn about:

 Preservation laws;

 How to apply for grants;

 How to work with local governments on preservation issues;

 The benefits of heritage tourism;

 What it means to be designated as a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National 

Register of Historic Places.

It is important to all Americans that more sites related to Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage 

are added to these national lists. One of the National Park Service’s most important functions is to 

serve as America’s storyteller. This implies a responsibility to listen as well as speak. We seek to give 

not only a more accurate interpretation of the past, but a more inclusive and humane one as well. 

Remembering Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage strengthens us as a nation. In the 

pages that follow are some examples of how this legacy is recognized. We hope they serve as an 

inspiration for the future.

ASIAN AMERICANS + PACIFIC ISLANDERS 4
ABOVE: The stacked basalt columns of Nan 

Madol. Greg Vaugn.

ABOVE: Nan Madol reminds us that the people of Micronesia 

were accomplished engineers more than 1,500 years ago. 

David Astley.

NAN MADOL 

Off the eastern coast of the 

island of Pohnpei in the 

Federated States of Micronesia lies Nan Madol. It is a series 

of structures on top of a coral reef. It was designated as a 

National Historic Landmark in 1985. The structures appear to 

be made of logs, but are actually basalt columns. The 

sections of black lava rock up to 20 feet long are pentagonal 

and hexagonal in shape and surprisingly straight. These are 

stacked up to 50 feet high in some places and fitted together

like a log cabin construction. 

Stunning and remote, Nan Madol comprises 92 artificial 

islands spread over 200 acres of coral flats off Pohnpei’s coast. Canals wind throughout the complex. 

They offer visitors a view of the engineering it took to create the basalt column structures. Exactly how 

it was done remains a mystery. 

Archeologists believe that the building of Nan Madol began 1,500 years ago. It was residential and 

ritualistic, serving as the seat of Pohnpei’s ruling Sau Deleur dynasty. Nan Madol is an example of 

megalithic architecture. This is a type of construction using large stones without mortar or cement. 

The effort to construct Nan Madol was no doubt enormous. Archeologists believe its builders 

transported the materials from a far-away source. 

Outer basalt walls protected the settlement from the outside. They were also used—along with large 

pieces of coral—as foundations for elevated platforms. On top of these platforms were thatched huts. 

Nan Madol’s most elaborate feature is the royal mortuary on the islet known as Nandauwas. There, 

 the high walls surround tombs within a 

main courtyard. Nan Madol is an 

opportunity to look at the relationship 

between architecture and social 

 organization. It is an engineering marvel 

 on the scale of Easter Island and is the 

 only ancient city ever built on top of a 

 coral reef. In 2010, Archeology Magazine

 conducted an interview with Rufino 

 Mauricio. Mauricio is an archeologist with 

 the Federated States of Micronesia’s Office 

 of National Archives, Culture, and Historic 

 Preservation. He discussed how 

 Pohnpeians view Nan Madol, commenting 

that, “Locals know about Nan Madol but are afraid of it. Many Pohnpeians continue to believe that if 

you disturb the site you will bring bad luck upon yourself or maybe even cause the whole society to be 

cursed.” Consequently, many locals do not visit the ancient city though it is a significant site in 

Pohnpeian culture. 

Most of the islets of Nan Madol hide beneath dense growth, including coconut and breadfruit trees. 

Few tourists visit the site, so it does not suffer the destruction of more popular sites. Natural forces, 

such as vegetation, erosion, and rising sea levels threaten the integrity of the complex. Still, Nan 

Madol continues to awe visitors and provide archeologists with perplexing questions.

5 ASIAN AMERICANS + PACIFIC ISLANDERS
‘IOLANI PALACE 

Residences of royalty are uncommon as significant sites 

associated with United States history. One exception is ‘Iolani 

Palace, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966. The palace, completed in 1882, was the 

home of the last rulers of the Kingdom of Hawai’i, King Kalākaua and Queen Lili‘uokalani. It is 

perhaps the most important surviving symbol of Hawai’ian independence. 

 

The building shows the tastes, aspirations, and shared community of the Hawai’ian ruling classes. It 

had the most up-to-date amenities, such as indoor plumbing and the telephone. King Kalākaua, the 

first Hawai’ian ruler to travel the globe, envisioned a palace like those of European monarchs. “He saw 

the Renaissance Revival structures at the Louvre, I suspect he went to Florence,” says Paul Dolinsky, 

chief of the Historic American Landscapes Survey. The result is “a Florentine palazzo turned inside 

out,” Dolinsky says. This means that the arcades were around the outside instead of the inside. Long 

and low, the arcades shield from the sun and embrace the breeze, in Hawai’ian style. “It’s the 

alphabet of the Renaissance—the curved arches, the columns, the rustication, the ornaments—

organized into Hawaiian sentences,” Dolinsky says. The entry holds a magnificent staircase, like the 

rest of the interior finished in Hawai’ian koa wood. There’s even a koa wood piano, for the queen to 

play her classical compositions. “It’s very eclectic,” says Dolinsky—punctuated with pointed throne 

chairs, in gothic style, from an earlier period. “It all works, but the mind does not rest, there’s so 

much happening. The chairs. The draperies. The festooning. Very, very high Victorian.” 

The Old Archives Building is also significant to the complex. The 1906 structure is believed to be the 

first structure in the United States erected solely to preserve public archives. Hawai’ians 

commissioned the building fearing that becoming an American meant records would be sent to the 

mainland. By 1906 the Archives of Hawai’i was an established agency.

After the monarchy was overthrown in 1893, the offices of the provisional government transferred to 

the palace. After 1898, it housed the offices of the territorial governor, both houses of the legislature, 

and several other offices. It was vacated in 1969, and after years of abuse and neglect plans were 

initiated to restore it. The Junior League of Honolulu helped fund the work and research into what life 

was like in the palace. The Friends of ‘Iolani Palace, founded by the grandniece of Queen Kapi‘olani, 

oversaw the extensive restoration. They continue to manage the site, which opened to the public in

1978. 

ABOVE AND OPPOSITE: Long and low, the arcades of the palace shield from the sun and embrace the breeze, in Hawaiian 

style. Jack Boucher/Historic American Buildings Survey.

ASIAN AMERICANS + PACIFIC ISLANDERS 6
IT IS PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT 

SURVIVING SYMBOL OF HAWAI’IAN 

INDEPENDENCE. 

7 ASIAN AMERICANS + PACIFIC ISLANDERS

”
ANGEL ISLAND 

As immigrants arrived at New York’s Ellis Island, a lesser-known 

chapter in American immigration unfolded on the West Coast. 

Between 1910 and 1940, hundreds of thousands of immigrants—most of them Asian—arrived at Angel 

Island, located in San Francisco Bay. Referred to as “the Ellis Island of the West,” Angel Island was 

different from its counterpart in the East. It primary function was to enforce laws intended to keep 

Asian immigrants out—mostly Chinese. Angel Island became a National Historic Landmark in 1997. 

In the late 1800s, there was a surge of anti-immigration sentiment in the United States. Chinese 

workers were blamed for taking jobs away from whites and for helping to trigger the depression of 

the 1870s. In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, halting the immigration of Chinese 

laborers for 10 years. The Act was made permanent in 1892. Teachers, students, merchants, and 

travelers were allowed in but only with difficult-to-obtain certificates. The attitude of the times was 

reflected in the name that an official gave the island: “Guardian of the Western Gate.”

The average stay at Angel Island was three weeks. Immigrants lived in crowded, unsanitary conditions, 

separated by ethnicity and gender and kept under lock and key by night. They went through 

interrogations and rigorous physical exams. Their frustration and despair found an expression in 

poetry, carved into the walls of the barracks and hospital. These testaments to the immigrants’ 

experiences are now one of Angel Island’s unique features. 

The immigration station was completed in 1908. It included an administration building, detention 

barracks, hospital, powerhouse, and wharf. Other buildings were added over the years. Although some 

have not survived, others, such as the barracks and hospital, remain. The architecture has stayed 

intact and, along with the old footpaths and roadways, create a sense of what the place was like with 

crowds of people.

BELOW AND OPPOSITE: All photographs courtesy of the California State Museum.

ASIAN AMERICANS + PACIFIC ISLANDERS 8
THEIR FRUSTRATION AND DESPAIR 

FOUND AN EXPRESSION IN POETRY, CARVED 

INTO THE WALLS OF THE BARRACKS AND 

HOSPITAL.

The immigration station became a state park in 1963. Its buildings were 

slated for demolition until a ranger discovered the carved writings. The 

nonprofit Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation helped fund the 

restoration of the barracks as a state monument and worked to raise the 

visibility of the site. 

Over the years, the station has been part of a preservation effort involving 

California, the National Park Service, and the foundation. A $500,000 grant 

from the NPS's Save America’s Treasures program helped fund the 

preservation of the carved poetry. In 2000, California voters passed a bond 

measure that set aside $15 million for the restoration of the immigration 

station. 

Today, the site is a museum and a major tourist draw. Visitors learn about 

the Asian American immigration experience. The 10,000-square-foot 

hospital underwent restoration and opened to the public in 2015.

9 ASIAN AMERICANS + PACIFIC ISLANDERS

”
KAM WAH CHUNG STORE 

ABOVE: A large shrine is just one among the many artifacts at Kam Wah Chung, where things were left just as they 

were when the Chinese store closed for business in 1945. Photograph courtesy of the Oregon State Parks.

The discovery of gold in Oregon in the mid-19th century brought people from around the world. Hopeful 

prospectors came from Belgium, Ireland, Switzerland, Germany, England, and all over the United States. Around 

10,000 Chinese were working in the gold fields around the Blue Mountains. 

Little Chinatowns emerged in small towns around the region, like Canyon City, Galena, Susanville, and Granite. In 

a little town called John Day, there is fascinating evidence of this period. The Kam Wah Chung Company 

Building—built around 1866—is still there. It is now a National Historic Landmark. It was a simple store, serving 

the Chinese community and the larger gold trade. After about a decade, two young men bought it. Lung On was 

a merchant whose primary interest was operating the store. His partner, Ing Hay, was a legendary practitioner of 

traditional Chinese medicine. His treatments were popular with the Chinese and white populations alike. 

Over the years, the partners expanded the structure, and it became an integral part of the Chinese community. 

Its functions also became more diverse. In time, the Kam Wah Chung store served as a bank and an office to test 

the purity of the gold. Tables were available for those who wanted a place to write letters or to read. There were 

traditional shrines as well. The Kam Wah Chung Store was a pharmacy, a trading post, and a social club. In short, 

it was a vital outpost of Chinese culture in the American Northwest. 

As the mining industry in Oregon changed, so did the little store. By 1945, it shut its doors, with all the contents 

left in place. The property was left to the city under the condition that it serve as a museum in memory of the 

Chinese presence in eastern Oregon. 

Today, visitors can tour the old store, which is located within a state park. The building is mostly stone, following 

the pattern of utilitarian structures on the western frontier. Multiple wood-frame additions over the years 

suggest its vibrant and active past. Inside, one can find canned Chinese delicacies, joss sticks, opium tins, 

medicine bottles, original furniture, and other items. The shrines, one of the store’s most remarkable 

characteristics, also remain.

ASIAN AMERICANS + PACIFIC ISLANDERS 10
NAKASHIMA HOME AND STUDIO 

George Nakashima was one of the 

20th century’s most talented furniture 

designers. He was a virtuoso woodworker as well. His pieces were displayed at the Metropolitan 

Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Victoria and Albert Museum in 

London, and the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo. His furniture is not only valuable for its 

high quality, but for its association with the artist. For these reasons, Nakashima’s compound 

is a National Historic Landmark. The compound in rural Hope, Pennsylvania consists of his house, 

studio, and workshop. The buildings are notable as rare local examples of the International Style.

Nakashima went to Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, MIT, and the Ecole Americaine des Beaux 

Arts in Fontainbleau, France. Leading up to World War II, Nakashima worked for an architectural firm 

in Tokyo, run by modernist Antonin Raymond. He immersed himself in traditional Japanese 

architecture and culture and embraced the Mingei Movement. This movement brought Japanese 

identity and Buddhist principles to design and the arts.

As international tensions rose in the late 1930s, Nakashima returned to the United States. 1942 found 

him and his extended family interned at a relocation camp in Minidoka, Idaho. It was here that he took 

up carpentry. In 1943, Raymond petitioned for his release. Then free, Nakashima set up shop in New 

Hope, where his craft flourished. His work used Buddhist, Hindu, and ancient Japanese elements. It 

was simple, but stylized at the same time. Both the art world and discerning postwar consumers 

prized Nakashima’s furniture.

As his business grew, Nakashima built the showroom, office, studio, and other buildings. The 

buildings reveal what Michael Gotkin, author of Artists’ Handmade Houses, describes as “the unlikely 

marriage between American vernacular influences and Japanese sensibilities.” The shallow pitched 

roofs, exposed rafter tails, and minimalist details have a Japanese flavor. The traditional elements 

contrast with the geometry and glass that mark the modern influence.

In 2012, the NPS Historic American Buildings Survey documented the site. This effort was in support 

of the site's National Historic Landmark nomination. His workshop continues today, run by his 

daughter, Mira. She produces furniture based on her father’s original designs.

BELOW: Living room of George Nakashima’s house, part of a complex recently honored as a National Historic 

Landmark. Nakashima Woodworkers Studio Archives.

11 ASIAN AMERICANS + PACIFIC ISLANDERS
THE 40 ACRES The story of Cesar Chavez and the American Farm Workers’ movement is a 

pivotal chapter in American Latino heritage. It was also critical to Filipino 

Americans, who made up a part of the agricultural labor force. The 40 Acres, the compound that served as the 

center of the movement, is a National Historic Landmark. The site, in Delano, California, symbolizes the struggle 

for agricultural reform in the 1960s. It also embodies the dedication and charisma of Chavez himself.

Filipino farm workers were an important part of this story. They had been part of California agriculture since the 

United States seized control of the Philippines in the Spanish American War. Filipino agricultural workers arrived 

in America just after World War I. For years, they labored under harsh and unfair conditions. In 1934, Filipino 

lettuce cutters went on strike. They demanded union recognition and better working conditions. Management 

responded with violence, arresting strikers and burning down labor camps.

During the Depression, Filipino and Mexican workers protested layoffs and slashed wages. It was a long and bitter 

campaign against powerful agribusiness. Industrial workers made strides in unionizing and labor reform 

legislation, but farm workers remained unorganized and unprotected.

The social upheaval of the 1960s saw new activism. Chavez had emerged as a vocal advocate, co-founding what 

became the United Farm Workers (UWF). In 1965, Filipino American laborers struck against California grape 

growers, demanding better wages. Among their leaders was Larry Itliong, a Filipino worker and activist. He was 

instrumental in the events that followed. Itliong convinced Chavez to join them, organizing an historic march 

from Delano to the state capitol in Sacramento.

In 1966, with attention growing on the plight of the farm workers, the UFW purchased the 40 Acres. Its members 

built the structures with the help of volunteers and other sympathetic unions. An administration center went up. 

This was followed by a service station, health clinic, hiring hall, and lodging for retired Filipino farm workers. 

Except for the administration building, the structures are in the Mission Revival style. They are modest, low-slung 

buildings surrounded by flat agricultural terrain. This was the setting for the seminal struggle between 

management and labor.

The grape strike of 1965 became an epic five-year struggle. The UFW convinced Americans to boycott the 

product. Chavez fasted in support, holding out in 40 Acres’ small service station and drawing media attention to 

the cause. As a Senate subcommittee looked into the matter, Senator Robert F. Kennedy came to California. 

He returned in full support of the Mexican and Filipino workers.

In 1970, the grape growers finally came to terms. They signed the first contracts in U.S. history negotiated by 

farm workers. The activism of the Filipinos and Mexicans led to the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act in 

1975. This was the first labor law for farm workers.

The 40 Acres was not just the headquarters of a national union. The complex was also built to meet the needs of 

the Filipino and Chicano community. It included a barbecue pit, a well with a pump, landscaping, a recreation 

area, and a grazing pasture. Farm laborers flocked to the 40 Acres for health care and for information on their 

rights.

BELOW: The retirement village at the 40 Acres. Photographed by the Historic American Buildings Survey.

ASIAN AMERICANS + PACIFIC ISLANDERS 12
CAMP PENDLETON 

The Census Bureau reports that in 2010 there were over 1.5 million 

Vietnamese Americans in the United States, with the largest concentration 

in southern California. Many south Asians came by way of a resettlement program carried out by the military. 

The program, Operations New Life and New Arrivals, began in April 1974. Asylum seekers from Vietnam were 

processed in Guam and other Pacific islands. Refugees were then sent to one of four centers: Camp Pendleton, 

California; Fort Chaffee, Arkansas; Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania; and Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. When the 

Camp Pendleton center closed in October 1975, it had processed over 50,000 refugees. In total, approximately 

133,000 entered the United States through the program.

 New life at the camp began in a “tent city” of over a 

 thousand tents put up by Marines. They provided blankets, 

 shoes, food, and health care. Refugees struggled with the 

 challenges of a new country, language barriers, and 

 differences in food and culture.

 It is important that younger generations understand this 

 difficult time. In 2010, the Camp Pendleton Historical 

 Society hosted “Images at War’s End,” an exhibit featuring 

 2,000 images of Vietnamese refugees at the camp.

 The Vietnamese American Heritage Foundation and the 

 Vietnamese American Oral History Project at the University of 

 California, Irvine, are collaborating on an oral history project. 

 They are capturing oral histories from first 

 generation Vietnamese who remember the war. Carried out 

by mostly Vietnamese American students, the interviews capture struggles, achievements, and memories. “I 

don’t speak Vietnamese well,” says student Michelle Pham. “I can’t read or write in Vietnamese. It would be 

very hard for me to convey my cultural upbringing to a future generation. My parents are not going to be here 

forever. And I want future generations to know where they came from.”

Student Andrew Lam asked Christopher Phan, a city 

councilman and former U.S. Navy lawyer who served in Iraq, 

about what he misses from growing up in Vietnam. “Just the 

slowness of life, how simple everything was. Now everything 

is dictated by schedules, meetings, and stuff like that,” Phan 

says. “We lived so far out in the countryside there wasn’t a 

lot of maintaining to do. We had a vineyard where we raised 

peppers. Aside from the minor stuff like helping feed the 

rabbits, feed the chickens or whatever, I really didn’t have to 

do much manual labor.” Although Phan has found success, 

memories of past ways linger. “So much that we worry about 

now is basically fluff. You think about it. If you never see 

your emails, does it really make much of a difference? 

Probably not. But it’s always the primary thing on our minds.” 

Over a hundred interviews have been taped—capturing a 

range of experiences—and the archive continues to grow.

They are housed with photographs at the UCI Libraries Southeast 

Asian Archive.

ABOVE: Tran Thi Nam, age 109, with her great, great, 

granddaughter. Born in North Vietnam, Tran Thi Nam 

fled south during the war, evacuated from Saigon 

shortly before the Communist takeover. She died of 

pneumonia contracted at Pendleton. © 1975 By Don 

Bartletti.

ABOVE: A Vietnamese boy sits on a suitcase 

while his family is processed. Tens of 

thousands were housed in big squad tents 

while sponsors were lined up to help them 

resettle. © 1975 By Don Bartletti.

13 ASIAN AMERICANS + PACIFIC ISLANDERS
PRESERVING HISTORY 

TOP RIGHT: Logging crew for the No. 9 Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company. 

MSCUA, University of Washington Libraries, UW6956. 

BOTTOM RIGHT: Asian Indians, such as these Sikhs pictured ca. 1916, were 

among the over a million people of Asian descent who passed through Angel 

Island Immigration Station. Peter Soohoo Sr. Collection.

We commemorate Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage in a 

variety of ways. It transcends “bricks and mortar” preservation to 

include a celebration of collective experience. The examples that 

follow illustrate the range, creativity, and sense of community that 

has driven these efforts.

“There Was a Chinatown Here: Objects and Stories from Downtown 

San Jose,” is an interactive digital exhibit 

(www.chinesemuseum.historysanjose.org). It connects the public 

with a significant story and place that retains no above-ground 

resources. The exhibit reveals the important role archeology plays in 

understanding our buried past. Released in January 2014, it features 

information and videos on artifacts from the Chinatown in San Jose, California.

The Market Street Chinatown was a bustling place during the last quarter of the 19th century. Anti-Chinese 

sentiment began to brew in the 1880s. An arson fire burned the district to the ground in 1887, and San 

Jose’s Chinatown remained buried for almost 100 years. A construction project uncovered it. From 1985 to 

1988, archeologists conducted work on the site. The artifacts recovered stayed unstudied in a warehouse 

until 2002. Then, the Market Street Chinatown Archeological Project began to catalog and study them.

The Market Street Chinatown Archeological Project, a program developed by the Stanford Archeology 

Center, the Stanford University Department of Archeology, History San Jose, Environmental Science 

Associates, and the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project, is a “collaborative, community-based, and 

education project,” specifically focused on bringing to light the story of the Market Street Chinatown. The 

project’s progress and technical reports can be found on their website (marketstreet.stanford.edu).

Currently, the online exhibit showcases five objects: a rice bowl, ceramic peach ornament, celadon Chinese 

spoon, stoneware jar, and toothbrush. Users can learn the origin and use for each object as well as view 

interviews with Chinese Americans on their memories of the objects. These artifacts are on display at the 

Chinese American Historical Museum at San Jose’s History Park (online at historysanjose.org/wp/planyour-visit/history-park).

BELOW: Ruins of Hawai’i’s Kualoa Sugar Mill in a recent photograph. © Randy Hanna, courtesy California Historical 

Society.

ASIAN AMERICANS + PACIFIC ISLANDERS 14
Located in a restored 1910 building in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District, the Wing Luke Museum is 

dedicated to the Asian American and Pacific Islander experience. It is nationally recognized for its dynamic, 

community-driven exhibits and the authenticity of its presentations. From the struggles of early 

immigrants to the successes of later generations, the museum recounts the Asian American and Pacific 

Islander experience through the voices of those who have lived it. With 60,000 square feet of space on 

three floors, the museum includes both exhibits and guided tours through the historic East Kong Yick 

Building it now occupies. 

In 1910, a group of 170 Chinese Americans pooled their resources to finance its construction. It quickly 

became an anchor of Seattle’s growing Chinatown, with businesses on the ground floor and families living 

above. The building was a hub for hundreds of Japanese and Filipino immigrants who came to the United 

States prior to World War II. 

The museum raised $23.2 million to restore the building, which is now considered one of the most 

significant Asian American and Pacific Islander sites in the United States. Engagement with the local 

community is extensive, serving as a forum for the Chinatown-International District. The Wing Luke 

recently was designated a National Park Service affiliated area, official recognition of the Wing Luke’s 

importance in telling the American story.

Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in Historic Preservation (APIAHiP) is a national network of

preservationists, historians, planners, and advocates focused on historic and cultural preservation in Asian 

and Pacific Islander American communities. Since its inception in 2007, APIAHiP has hosted three biennial 

national APIA historic preservation forums, convening over 600 preservationists, historians, urban 

planners, artists, archeologists, architects, community leaders, policymakers, and others involved in 

preserving and sustaining historic and cultural resources that are important to Asian and Pacific Islander 

Americans across the United States and its territories. APIAHiP has also been involved with national 

advocacy and policy issues, including increasing participation and visibility of APIA historic and cultural 

resources.

Beyond the parks, the National Park Service is part of a national preservation partnership working with 

native groups, states, local governments, nonprofit organizations, historic property owners, museums, and 

others who believe in the importance of our shared heritage—and its preservation. Many NPS programs 

work with communities and citizens to advance preservation goals. Visit 

www.nps.gov/subjects/historicpreservation/fund.htm to learn about these programs and grant 

opportunities. 

ABOVE: Courtesy of the California State Museum.

15 ASIAN AMERICANS + PACIFIC ISLANDERS