Library Guides: Southeast Asian Diasporas of the Vietnam War (Spring 2024): Primary Sources

Primary Sources

Primary sources were either created during the time period being studied or were created at a later date by a participant in the events being studied (as in the case of memoirs). They reflect the individual viewpoint of a participant or observer. Primary sources enable the researcher to get as close as possible to what actually happened during an historical event or time period. Examples of primary sources include historical newspapers, oral history interviews, posters, photographs, pamphlets, and more.

See the Finding Historical Primary Sources Library Guide for a comprehensive guide to locating primary sources.

Collections Online, Ethnic Studies Library, and Bancroft Library

The Bophana Center
The Bophana Center is an audiovisual center located in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The center is dedicated to restoring, protecting and enhancing the Cambodian audiovisual heritage.
Center for Lao Studies
This project, the first of its kind, will document the untold stories of Lao refugees in the US through audio and video media and create an on-line archive of interviews, videos, and historical documents. Currently, there are almost no existing oral history projects and little academic research that focus on the ethnic Lao refugees in the US. By creating a Lao Oral History archive, CLS aims to raise awareness within the Lao-American community and the greater population of the history, culture, and contemporary realities of Lao refugees in the US as well as the Central Intelligence Agencys (CIA) Secret War in Laos in the 1960s and 70s. This project will disseminate the voices of underrepresented population, whose stories of immigration reflect unique moments in both Lao and American history, thereby building bridges between the past and present and between disparate cultures.
H. K. Yuen Social Movement Archive
The H. K. Yuen Social Movement archive consists of tens of thousands of hours of recordings made by H. K. Yuen. Yuen recorded radio programs as well as local rallies at UC Berkeley and the broader San Francisco Bay Area related to a wide range of social justice issues including Third World struggles, feminist and gay liberation struggles, anti-Vietnam War protests, and more.
Hmong Oral History Project, Concordia University
The Hmong Oral History Project works to connect the younger generations of Hmong, and the broader communities in which many Hmong live, with resources describing Hmong culture in Laos, the Secret War in Southeast Asia, and stories of the Hmong immigrant experience, facilitating greater intercultural and intergenerational understanding. This project was completed with the support of the Elder Council of the HAMAA, the Hmong Cultural and Resource Center, Concordia University’s Center for Hmong Studies, and Concordia University’s Faculty Development Program.
Hmongstory 40
The year 2015 marked 40 years of the Hmong migration from Laos and Thailand to the United States of America. To commemorate this special anniversary, an exhibition comprised of photographs, stories, fine art, and artifacts was create to showcase the Hmong experience.
Hmongstory 40 is a joint effort from many people from throughout the state of California. It represents a collaborative that shares a common vision. This exhibition provides a rare and intimate opportunity to connect with the Hmong people. From the past to the present, Hmongstory 40 constructed a narrative that was absent within the Hmong community and to the general public at large.
An Other War Memorial: Memories of the American War in Viet Nam
How do nations remember wars? Usually nations remember their own soldiers and citizens, and usually nations will build memorials to those who have died fighting their wars. But memorials help us to forget as much as they help us to remember. An Other War Memorial questions why nations should remember only their own, and why soldiers are the ones recalled in memorials. The war commemorated here is what some call the Vietnam War and what some call the American War. The people commemorated here are both the living and the dead, soldiers and civilians. Visitors can begin by clicking on a portrait to see the profile of someone who died in the war, survived the war, witnessed the war, or protested against it.
Sacramento Hmong-American Oral History Project
Sacramento is home to the third largest Hmong population in the nation. The Sacramento Hmong community continues to grow but not much is known about their life experiences. The goal of this project is to record the life histories of five Hmong Americans who came to the United States as refugees. Although the Hmong have been the subject of increasing scholarly studies, little has been done in terms of oral histories on the Hmong community. The project employed oral history methodology to record the personal histories of five individuals with regards to their life experiences in Laos, Thailand, and the United States.
SEAAdoc: Documenting the Southeast Asian American Experience (UC Irvine Southeast Asian Archive)
Over 1,500 images and 4,000 textual documents selected from the Southeast Asian Archive at University of California, Irvine.
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum preserves the memory of the S-21 prison site, where tens of thousands of Cambodians were killed during the Khmer Rouge era. Their archival collections are searchable and include pictures, documents, and more.
UC Irvine Southeast Asian Archive Digital Collections & Exhibits
Digital collections and exhibits from the Southeast Asian Archive at University of California, Irvine.
UC Irvine Southeast Asian Archive Digital Collections in Calisphere
Thousands of images, audio, video, and documents from the Southeast Asian Archive at University of California, Irvine organized by collection and fully searchable, from the California Digital Library.
VietStories: Life Stories of Vietnamese Americans in Southern California
Hundreds of audio/video oral histories with transcripts (English and Vietnamese) from the Southeast Asian Archive at University of California, Irvine.
Hmong Oral History Project, Minnesota Digital Library
Nine interviews with Hmong Americans about their journeys and experiences.
Cambodian Community History and Archive Project, Historical Society of Long Beach, CA
The following pages contain photos, documents, resources, and videos from the HSLB Cambodian Community History and Archive Project.
Cambodian-American Women: An Oral History Project
Courage and Resiliency: the Cambodian-American Women Oral History Project at Schlesinger Library has had a long and distinguished history since its original conception in the early 1980s. At that time, hundreds of thousands of Cambodians were being resettled in the United States. The American people know little about the Khmer Rouge and its murderous regime (1975-1979) that killed an estimated 2-4 million Cambodian citizens. Although Cambodian women were less likely than men to be executed, they suffered a great number of trauma events including starvation, incarceration, torture, the witnessing of the execution of family members, abuse and starvation deaths of their children and sexual violence. Upon arrival as refugees in America, these women faced the incredible task of building a new life for themselves and their remaining family members.

Đó̂i diện = Face to face.
San Jose, CA : Coalition of Vietnamese Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Network, 1994.
Du' âm : a journal of contemporary Vietnamese issues, music, art, poetry, and prose.
Berkeley, Calif. : Vietnamese Student Association at UC Berkeley, 1996-
Fighting fire with fire : lessons from the Laotian Organizing Project's first campaign / written by Maria Kong with Pamela Chiang.; a publication of the Laotian Organizing Project & Asian Pacific Environmental Network.
Richmond, CA : Laotian Organizing Project ; Oakland, CA : Asian Pacific Environmental Network, 2001
The H. K. Yuen Social Movement Archive
The H. K. Yuen Social Movement archive consists of tens of thousands of hours of recordings made by H. K. Yuen. Yuen recorded radio programs as well as local rallies at UC Berkeley and the broader San Francisco Bay Area related to a wide range of social justice issues including Third World struggles, feminist and gay liberation struggles, anti-Vietnam War protests, and more.
Quietly torn : a literary journal by young lu Mien American women living in Richmond, California / [editor, Katherine Cowy Kim].
San Francisco, CA : Pacific News Service, [1999]
Southeast Asian Refugee files 1959-1995
The Southeast Asian Refugee files (1959-1995) have two series: Louis Weisner Foreign Services Files and Research Files on Vietnam War Refugees. Weisner's files contain his handwritten summaries of publications, articles, meetings, relocation village assessments, and notes. There are also many United States government unclassified documents from various departments and agencies relating to the relocation of displaced persons during the war, refugee camp conditions, and implementation of relief programs. The Research Files compiled by Douglas Pike are arranged chronologically from 1975-1995 and consist mainly of newspaper clippings and include documents from refugee camps and resettlement programs, chapters from books, articles, newsletters, pamphlets, and handwritten notes.
Stories of survival : three generations of Southeast Asian Americans share their lives
Oral histories of Southeast Asian Americans living in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco, California. Narrators describe their memories of lives shattered by war in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and of starting new lives in San Francisco. Interviewers are generally American born children of refugees.
Suorsdey magazine.
Long Beach, CA : Suorsdey Corp., c1995-
Thế kỷ 21
Westminster, CA : Nguoi Viet, [1989]-
Eleven poems of political prisoners / Union of Vietnamese in the U.S.

Tales from the Mien people of Laos : oral history transcript / 1989. / recorded by Kair Ta Chao,
Interviews, conducted as part of the Laotian Handcraft Center Project, are part of the Donated Oral Histories Collection. Donated to The Bancroft Library via the Regional Oral History Office. Audio tape: side 1 English, side 2 Mien.
Beatrice and William Eisman Collection of U.S.-Vietnam Materials, 1963-2009.
.8 linear feet (2 boxes.)
Box 1: Contains a typescript history of the US/Vietnam Friendship Association (USVFA) by Beatrice Eisman and 5 dossiers (chiefly typescript text and newsclippings) on topics related to right-wing Vietnamese activity in the United States. Dossiers are titled: "Dossier on the acts of terrorism committed by Vietnamese right-wing groups in the United States" [Volume I], compiled by the Association of Vietnamese in the United States -- "Dossier on the assassination of Professor Edward Lee Cooperman" [Volume II], compiled by the Association of Vietnamese in the U.S. and the Committee for Justice for Professor Edward Lee Cooperman -- "The Assassination of Professor Edward Lee Cooperman Volume III" -- "Dossier on the two trials concerning the assassination of Professor Edward Lee Cooperman, Volume IV" -- "Dossier on right-wing Vietnamese terrorism in the U.S. Volume V, 1986 -1996", compiled by the US/Vietnam Friendship Association. Box 2: Contains correspondence, publications and other information regarding USVFA. Also includes files on the Vietnam Friendship Village Project; orther organizations with similar interests and subject files on topics of interest such as Cambodia and Agent Orange.

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Southeast Asian Diasporas of the Vietnam War (Spring 2024)

Primary Sources

Collections Online, Ethnic Studies Library, and Bancroft Library