Creating an Asian American University Student Life Oral History Archive: Challenges in a Predominately White Institution

• In Event: New Directions in the History of Higher Education

Abstract

Asian Americans’ student life has been historically excluded in many predominately white institution’s university archives, particularly in the Midwest. This exclusion can be traced to three primary factors. 1) Many university archives lacked interest in archiving the student life of minoritized students historically, and in turn many minoritized students did not donate to the university archives. 2) Student life is transient by design. 3) Even when student groups legacies remain on campus, many minoritized students desired to keep their material history in their community made spaces. This poster session traces out these key issues and proposes using oral history to address these challenges. These archives create an accessible genealogy of Asian American experiences for future community members and scholars.

Author

• Jin Chang, The University of Iowa