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The Chinese Historical Society of Southern California Collection

The Chinese Historical Society of Southern California Collection documents artifacts systematically excavated from two sites in Southern California. The first site is represented by about 1,040 color images of artifacts from the original Los Angeles Chinatown; an additional 150 images document artifacts from the site of a Chinese laundry in Santa Barbara.
September 25, 2007
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The Chinese Historical Society of Southern California Collection documents artifacts systematically excavated from two sites in Southern California. The first site is represented by about 1,040 color images of artifacts from the original Los Angeles Chinatown; an additional 150 images document artifacts from the site of a Chinese laundry in Santa Barbara. These two outstanding Chinese Historical Society of Los Angeles artifact collections are among the largest and best documented assemblage of cultural materials on Chinese settlement in the United States. Excavated from unmixed dated sites with developed historical context, the collections represent tremendous research potential.

The collection from the Chinese Historical Society Santa Barbara consists of materials excavated in 1992 during the seismic upgrading by the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation of an old adobe structure that for about 25 years housed a Chinese laundry. These materials represent a valuable resource for reconstructing a narrower range of Chinese working class daily life in Santa Barbara from about the mid 1880s to 1905.

The second and larger collection from the Chinese Historical Society Chinatown consists of materials systematically excavated, in October/November 1989 and February/March 1991, during the construction of the Metro Rail Red Line by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Unearthed from a sealed and unmixed deposit underneath Union Station, the collection conveys information on the daily life and activities of people from all walks of life and all classes of the Chinese community from the1880's to 1933. Valuable data on food and subsistence, medicinal preparations and health practices, household technology, recreation, art, ritual patterns of space usage, and interaction with the Anglo community can be garnered from the objects, and changes over time may also be traced stratigraphically.

Location:
USC Digital Library
3434 South Grand Avenue
CAL 207 MC 2810
Los Angeles, CA 90089-2810

For Questions or Further Information Regarding the Collection:
Please address correspondence to:
USC Digital Library
3434 South Grand Avenue
CAL 207 MC 2810
Los Angeles CA 90089-2810

Contact:
Tel: (213) 740-8832
Email

For Additional Information:
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15799coll73

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