(Thuy Vo Dang and Kalean Ung, co-curators of the original MUSIC LETTERS HOME exhibit, during the opening reception in 2020)

When the COVID-19 lockdown was implemented in March of 2020, the Music, Letters, Home physical exhibit had just hosted a successful opening night. But as everyone sequestered themselves inside their homes, the exhibit had to wrap up its run early before anyone could really appreciate its work.

Two years later, Louis and I, as interns for the OC&SEAA center, were tasked by Dr. Thuy Vo Dang with creating a digital exhibit so it could finally get the recognition it was due. Most of the work was essentially already done for us — there was no research to be conducted like our last digital exhibition Literally Displaced: Writing the Southeast Asian Diaspora. Now, we just had to arrange pre-existing exhibit material in a coherent & cohesive manner to be presented.

That’s not to say it was super easy, though.

Before we started anything, Louis and I had to read through Kalean’s play first to get an idea of what the exhibition was about. Then we were required to go through Chinary Ung’s oral history and edit the corresponding transcript, which took both of us a significant amount of time to complete. And it has definitely made me gain huge respect for those who provide captions for any type of media! We then had to select sections of the oral history that we thought were the most poignant and would go well with the themes and materials present throughout the exhibit. This is where it was convenient that I had experience prior in cutting and editing audio; it made the process quicker and was completed without much hassle. Embedding the audio into the website, though, was a bit disappointing as it left the audio player with a gray background — Google Sites only allows you to do so much with its limitations. You win some, you lose some!

Speaking of Google Site’s cursed limitations, I think Louis and I managed to come up with some interesting and aesthetically pleasing designs despite the restrictions in layout options! We both found it easier to accomplish after our experience of curating a digital exhibition from scratch in our last project. There were a variety of photos and materials to select from, but we mostly added the ones that were previously on display in the physical exhibit. We did add a couple photos from the Rosenblatt (Lionel) collection that depicted the refugee camps mentioned in the exhibition, though, as well as videos we found on Youtube that displayed Chinary Ung’s music and Kalean Ung’s thoughts on her play Letters From Home. Trawling through Youtube and the many boxes of documents and photos is always a meticulous and tiring task, but gratifying in the end when we find what we’re looking for.

(Music, Letters, Home Website Home Page)

The digital exhibition also gave us opportunities to be creative. Louis created a map compiling all the locations Chinary Ung received letters from. I, on the other hand, was responsible for the graphics on the website as I have experience in creating digital art. It took me multiple tries to figure out what looked best — I had a few different ideas on what I wanted to do, but they were too complicated. I ultimately landed on something simple instead: musical notes, letters, and moths because they’re prominent in Kalean’s play.

Overall, Louis and I are proud of what we accomplished, and we hope this digital version of the exhibit will finally give the Music, Letters, Home exhibition its long-awaited chance to be seen.

-Annie Nguyen

Click Here to visit the Webpage!

Please join us for a free virtual event, an evening of storytelling with distinguished composer, Chinary Ung and actor, Kalean Ung as we celebrate the launch of the “Music Letters Home” digital exhibit.

Cambodian American scholars Christine Su (College of San Mateo) and Brian Sengdala (Cornell University) will join Chinary Ung and Kalean Ung in a roundtable conversation focused on memories of Cambodia and the diaspora.

JOIN US:
Here

on August 30, 2022 5:00PM – 6:30PM.

In the past academic school year 2016-2017, Asian American Studies celebrated its 25th anniversary.  But with this momentous milestone, there was the realization that many people did not know about the history behind the creation of Asian American Studies on campus. 

I had heard whispers of what happened from one of my professors a few years ago that a hunger strike took place in order to get the major, but other than that nothing.  It was not until the 2016-2017 academic school year when footage of the 1993 protest, a protest only known to few, was graciously donated to the UCI Libraries and was shown in classes.  Still, many questions arose such as who were those people in the video, how did they organize a large protest, what were the order of events. 

The chair of the department, Dr. Judy Wu, along with Dr. Thuy Vo Dang, director of the Southeast Asian Archive assembled a group, now called The Beginnings of Activism for the Department of Asian American Studies at UCI (BADAAS@UCI) of research interns to set out to answer those questions and more. 

I joined this group in Winter 2017 since I wanted to know more about it.  One of my majors was Asian American Studies, and I had learned so much about myself through it.  Throughout high school, most of my education was Eurocentric, and while I found that interesting, I also found that I could not completely relate.  Asian American Studies gave me an opportunity to learn the world around me which I took for granted.  I remember going home and telling my dad how I learned about home temples in Little Saigon.  To that, he gave me a funny look and said, “We go to Little Saigon almost every weekend.  Have you not been paying attention.”   I could not imagine my UCI experience without it, and I wanted to know what went into making the major.

During the winter quarter, my research partners and I began our research looking at the course catalogues and the New U to figure out what time span we wanted to focus on as well as to see if there was written documentation of any of the protests.  From there, we collectively chose to focus on the 90’s since though the course catalogues, we discovered that Asian American Studies became a minor in 1996 and then a major the following year in 1997.  We found this fact to be odd considering the University claimed it was the 25th anniversary when the minor was created twenty years ago. 

Through the New U, we learned of ESCAPE (Ethnic Students Coalition Against Prejudicial Education).  During Wayzgoose in 1991, now called Celebrate UCI, 200 protesters marched during the event demanding for Ethnic Studies.  This protest was not only for Asian American Studies, but also for African American Studies, Chicano/Latino Studies, Native American Studies.  From ESCAPE, the school made each group certain promises such as developing a program or more faculty. From there, we went up to the Special Collections and Archive to look at Rice Paper, Academic Senate Records, and later on the Cross Cultural Center Records. 

Rice Paper was a student run newspaper that started out as East/West Ties in 1983. In 1991, East/West Ties changed its name in 1991 in order to transition its focus to more Asian American issues.  Rice Paper was like a treasure trove because it offered insight into what the students were concerned about during that time and provided contextual background.  To our disappointment, Rice Paper ended in 1997 citing a growing apathy to Asian American issues. 

The Academic Senate Records were also disappointing.  We had gone through many boxes, but our findings were scarce.  Because we knew the years that Asian American Studies became a minor and a major, we knew there had to be corresponding paperwork.  We were unable to find the minor proposal, but we were able to find the major proposal.  The Cross Cultural Center Records were like gold.  We found newspaper clippings from local newspapers of the protest, documentation of the hunger strike, letter correspondences, and forms.  We had finally found physical evidence, and we were able to construct a basic timeline. 

In 1991, the protest during Wayzgoose occurred, and the school had made several concessions in order to appease the groups.  However as many of the other groups got what they demanded for, Asian American Studies was left behind.  In 1992, the students were able to get onto the hiring committee, but problems arose during the hiring process.  In 1993, the students protested on April 22nd, 1993 by occupying the Chancellor’s Office which was later followed by a 35 day rotational hunger strike.  On the last day of school, June 10th, 1993, they decided to occupy the Chancellor’s Office again to show the administration that they were not going to go away and will be a presence at UCI.  They had slogans such as “World Class, My Ass” calling out the school for claiming that they were a World Class University while ignoring the fact that  42.6% were Asian American.  Following those protests, Professor Yong Chen, now the Associate Dean of the School of Humanities, was hired in 1993 as a joint appointment in Asian American Studies and History.  A search committee, which included one graduate student representative and one undergraduate representative,  was formed to hire more faculty.  From this Professor Dorothy Fujita-Rony and Professor Claire Jean Kim were hired. 

During the Spring quarter, we transitioned to oral histories.  We found names from our research in Special Collections and began searching for their contact information.  Some of the names were already at UCI like the professors that still taught here.  Our first interview was with Professor Yong Chen, who told us his journey to UCI.  We then interviewed former staff and faculty who have either moved on or retired.   Dr. Mary Ann Takemoto enlightened us about how there was a need for Asian American Studies while Professor John Liu told us the inner-workings of the department and how it was initially formed. 

As of recent, our interviews have been former students.  Those interviews were extremely valuable since they provided something the records and the archives could not provide.  The records and archives had factual evidence, but they contained information that the university deemed important and they could not convey the social relations between the protesters and faculty or the emotional tensions they faced.  The records lacked the social interactions that we found to be interesting and crucial to our research.  The interviews illuminated that as well as their thoughts of what happened of each other.  Some people were more open than others and openly told us what they thought.  Others were quiet and did not want to answer the question or evaded it.  One of my favorite anecdotes of the interviews was with some of the former students.  We had asked them how were they able to get everyone together since social media was nonexistent at the time.  Facebook did not exist.  What they would do was get up in the middle of the night and make chalk body outlines along Ring Road with the caption, “Asian American Studies is dead.”  Arrows would accompany the outlines and point towards the Chancellor’s Office, and that was how people knew where to go.  The records did not have any mention of that, but that story is fascinating. 

My partners and I have been able to present our research in various ways.  We gave our first talk in the OC&SEAA and a few days later at UROP.  We then presented our findings during the Asian American Studies Graduation Reception.  There, we invited all the old alumni back to thank them for giving us the opportunity to major into something amazing, and we wanted to honor them.  When they had set out on their protests, they knew that they would not have the chance to benefit from their protest.  They would have graduated and would be unable to major into something they advocated for, but their efforts gave the students after them an opportunity to learn more about themselves.  I myself benefited from their hard work, and I am eternally grateful for what they did. 

In the past month or so, we attended the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) conference at Washington DC where we presented our research.  We are now trying to wrap up interviews and move on towards creating an exhibit and making a documentary.  Some of our interviewees were generous enough to give us materials from that time period.  Eileen Chun-Fruto, the Asian Pacific Student Association (APSA) Vice Chair during the 1993 protests, still kept the placards that some of the students wore during the protests.  We are in the process of trying to get more materials, and we hope to create a collection by the end.

It was with great shock and sadness that the Special Collections and Archives staff learned that Ralph Cicerone passed away on November 5, 2016. Ralph Cicerone was UCI’s fourth chancellor from 1998-2005. He left the university to become president of the National Academy of Sciences, a position he retired from in June 2016. His life’s work and accomplishments are highlighted by the OC Register, UCI School of Physical Sciences, and The Washington Post. While we could easily add to the list of Dr. Cicerone’s incredible contributions to our planet, we would instead like to reflect on the archives’ and archivists’ relationship with Chancellor Cicerone.

The university archives has held the formal records from his chancellorship since 2005. These records contain administrative files, meeting notes, correspondence, and other documentation of his work and achievements as chancellor at UCI. Earlier this year, Dr. Cicerone graciously decided to donate his personal papers to UCI’s Special Collections and Archives. UCI archivists had been working with him and his staff at the National Academy of Sciences to transfer his papers from Washington, D.C. In June, Assistant University Archivist, Laura Uglean Jackson, had the pleasure of traveling to D.C. to appraise, box, and ship Cicerone’s personal papers stored at the Academy. While there, she met with Dr. Cicerone to talk about his papers and how they would be cared for and organized at UCI. She recalls, “Dr. Cicerone was one of the most accomplished people I have ever worked with, and he was also one of the kindest. I met with him just a few days before his retirement when he was very busy and facing a major life change. Despite this, he was incredibly calm and very nice to work with. He even offered me cookies that someone had brought him. I will always remember the respect and humility that Dr. Cicerone showed to me and his staff while I worked in his office. While I didn’t know him for long, I will always remember him as an exceptional and exemplary person.”

The Ralph Cicerone papers contain approximately 50 linear feet of material documenting his life’s work in the field of atmospheric science and chemistry. It includes photos, speeches, correspondence, committee files, research files, and much more. The university archives is in the process of making the collection available.

The Special Collections & Archives holds two other notable collections documenting Cicerone’s work and contributions: an oral history with Ralph Cicerone by Spence Olin in 2004 ,and the F. Sherwood Rowland papers. This collection contains a significant amount of correspondence to Rowland from Cicerone, who was recognized on the citation for the 1995 Nobel Prize in chemistry awarded to Rowland.

The staff of the Special Collections and Archives sends its sincere condolences to his wife Carol, daughter Sara, and to all who had the pleasure of knowing and working with him.