Chinese in California

The Library of Congress has created a Web site tracing the history of 19th-and early 20th-century Chinese immigrants to California. The Chinese in California, 1850-1925 <memory.loc.gov/ammem/award99/cubhtml> not only follows the journeys of the Chinese to America, but also features about 8,000 images and pages of primary-source materials, including original art, letters, business records, legal documents, menus and speeches.

Start by clicking on Special Presentation: Topical Overview — Essays & Galleries to access nine galleries highlighting San Francisco’s Chinatown community, the anti-Chinese movement and exclusion, Chinese populations outside San Francisco and more. You can also read a series of essays that introduce you to the development of Chinatown in San Francisco. Then, browse the collection by keyword, subject, group or theme to uncover its other gems.