Asian American Studies

Abstract

publications on various aspects of Asian experience in the United States in the past twelve years, there is as yet no adequate comprehensive history of Asian Americans or any of the subgroups, and none can be expected in the near future. Some major historical periods continue to be largely obscure, rendering the writing of a comprehensive history premature if not impossible. Fortunately, with the rapid accumulation of important primary source materials, existing deficiencies are slowly being overcome.1 For example, the Arno Press of the New York Times Company has reprinted to date approximately fifty volumes of significant works on the Asian experience in North America.2 Likewise, although less discriminating in their selection criteria, the R and E Research Associates of San Francisco have reissued many old documents and brought out many difficult-to-find M.A. theses and Ph.D. dissertations. The founding of the Japaneselanguage and Chinese-language collections of archival materials (at the University of California campuses in Los Angeles and Berkeley represents a major breakthrough in Asian American historiography.3 The establishment of Asian American Studies programs in universities and colleges and the compilation of bibliographies on various Asian American groups have also greatly enhanced the study of Asian American history.4