Chinese American Museum

Chinese Historical Society of Southern California and Chinese American Museum

As part of our ongoing effort to build strong partnerships in the Southern California region, we (Christina Woo, Linda Vo, and I) …

Help Keep Our Histories Alive!

We are a self-funding project that relies on generous private donations like yours to continue the important and urgent work that we do.

Tell Us

Tell us how you are using the oral histories for your class, research projects, video, etc.

Featured Narrator

Dr. BichLien Nguyen is a UC Irvine alumna and co-founder of the Vietnamese American Cancer Foundation (VACF).

"She is currently an oncologist practicing in Orange County, California. Her interview focuses on her memories of going to pharmacy school in Saigon, being the eldest in her family..." Click her photo to read more.

CommUNITY Stories

"About 10 years ago, after I retired, I started feeling that my duty is to look for my father’s documentation when he created the first Vietnamese traditional dress. From the help of the second generation people in Japan, Vietnam, and America, I prepared a documentation about the traditional dress Nguyen Cat Tuong. During the time that I was looking for those documentations, I met many knowledgeable people and they helped me with Vietnamese culture and history. It encourages me to complete my project about my father’s work."
- Nguyen, Hien Trong
Click his photo to hear the entire story.

Support for Viet Stories comes from the Jao Foundation, UC Irvine School of Humanities, Department of Asian American Studies, Illuminations: The Chancellor\'s Arts & Culture Initiative, UCI Libraries Orange County & Southeast Asian Archive Center, Orange County Parks, Old Courthouse Museum Society, individual donors, generous grants from Wells Fargo Foundation and Edison International, as well as from Vietnamese in Philanthropy (VIP), an Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP) Giving Circle in Orange County supported by OC Community Foundation.

Community

Created in 2011, Viet Stories: Vietnamese American Oral History Project assembles, preserves, and disseminates the diverse life stories of Vietnamese Americans in Southern California for future generations.

Viet Stories connects the university and community by partnering with local and national organizations, community leaders and volunteers, and the media.

The collection focuses on the legacy of refugees and immigrants whose life stories contribute to our understanding of American history and of Vietnamese in the diaspora.

Education

The Department of Asian American Studies at UC Irvine offers “Vietnamese American Experience” and “Asian American Research Methods” courses that train students to be community oral historians.

The Associate Director, students, interns, and volunteers conduct interviews that are transcribed, translated, digitized, and made accessible online.

Viet Stories works with K-12 teachers and college instructors to include the oral histories in their curriculum and collaborates with researchers on their projects.

Preservation

The Department of Asian American Studies in the School of Humanities at UC Irvine is responsible for Viet Stories. Visit humanities.uci.edu/aas.

The oral history collection is permanently housed at the Southeast Asian Archive at UC Irvine Libraries as well as digitized for online access. Visit the website at vaohp.lib.uci.edu.

The Southeast Asian Archive, established in 1987, documents the experiences of refugees and immigrants from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos and collects books, journals, dissertations, theses, photographs, paintings, and other materials. Visit seaa.lib.uci.edu.

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