“Strangers from a Different Shore”

Abstract

Abstract This exploratory research examines archival representations of Chinese in America in collections dating from before and during the Chinese Exclusion Era (1860–1943), both in mainstream institutional archives/special collections repositories and in smaller community-based archives. Using critical race theory as a methodological framework and an interpretivist case study approach, this research shows a continued lack for transparency surrounding archival description and archival representations within such collections and an uneven distribution of resources across institutions that collect and preserve materials on early Chinese in America. The report identifies the difficulties of balancing evolving terminologies and changing archival descriptive standards/technology and the need for collaboration among bibliographers, catalogers, archivists, historians and activists in creating archival descriptions in collections about the Chinese in America.