Founded in 1972 when women artists had few spaces to exhibit, A.I.R. (Artists in residence, Inc.) Gallery is the first artist-run nonprofit gallery for women artists in the United States. Within the A.I.R. collection are materials pertaining to its Asian and Asian American women artists.
The Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) is the labor union of professional theatrical performers and stage managers. The collection consists of all of the earliest records of the organization as well as general files, membership records, contract files, claims, and correspondence with other unions, guilds and federations.
The AFL-CIO was created from the merger of two major labor organizations. The American Federation of Labor (AFL), a craft-oriented union, had been formed in 1886, while the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) had broken away from the AFL in the late 1930s after internal disputes. The two unions merged in 1955 and George Meany was elected as the first president of the new AFL-CIO. Meany was succeeded in 1979 by Lane Kirkland.
The New York City Central Labor Council is an organization that furthers the rights of workers to organize in unions and bargain collectively; to advocate legislation which is beneficial to workers and oppose that which is not; and to correct abuses and to insure the workers their just rights. The collection contains reference material, reports, correspondence, flyers and copies of proposed legislation on a wide range of topics of concern to the labor movement: housing, health care, safety issues in the workplace, immigrant rights, political campaigns and matters relating to collective bargaining rights.
Karl Ichiro Akiya (1909 - 2001) was a labor and community activist. He moved to New York after his internment at Camp Topaz, Utah and worked for nearly thirty years at the Bank of Tokyo. The collection consists of subject files, writings, notebooks, artwork, photographs, and ephemera documenting Akiya's life and work in the United States and Japan.
Robert Alexander was a New York based photographer who captured most of the major experimental choreographers, dancers, and performers of the seventies and eighties, including Stuart Sherman, Kenneth King, Simone Forti, David Gordon, Valda Setterfield, Laura Foreman, Carter Frank, Yvonne Rainer, Steve Paxton, Douglass Dunn, Rudy Perez, Meredith Monk, Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, and A/P/A artists Yoshiko Chuma, Min Tanaka, and Ping Chong. By the mid-eighties Alexander was doing less and less dance photography and more photography of the city. The collection includes thousands of slides of Manhattan dating from this period, many of which reveal Alexander's interest in ordinary street scenes and people.
Tomie Arai is an artist and community activist and Legan Wong was active in the New York Asian American Movement during the 1970s and 1980s.. The collection documents Arai and Wong’s activist work in the mural, anti-war, Asian American Studies, and greater Asian American movements in New York
Arkipelago is a New York City-based volunteer-run cultural organization that promotes critical dialogue and community engagement in issues of concern to the Philippines and the Filipino Diaspora. The Arkipelago Collection totals 4 linear feet and consists of a range of materials documenting its “artivist” activities, including meeting agendas and minutes, events programs, leaflets, VHS films, banners and flags, photographs, and electronic files.
Chronicling the collective’s shows from 1998-2009, the Asia Pacific Forum Records measure 4.75 linear feet and document the collective’s approximately 500 on-air shows. Of particular significance are the full-length unedited interviews with notable Asian Americans including activist Yuri Kochiyama, novelist Jessica Hagedorn, and musician and activist Chris Iijima. These interviews are recorded on cassette tapes, compact discs, mini-discs, and reel-to-reel audio tapes and are contained in approximately 1.75 linear feet, along with airchecks (recordings of APF’s live broadcasts) from 1998-2009. In addition, VHS tapes and DVDs, which were sent to APF for consideration, are contained within this measurement.
The Asian & Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS (APICHA) is decidated to combating discimination against people with HIV/AIDS, preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS within the Asian and Pacific Islander communities, and providing care and treatment for Asian and Pacific Islanders living with HIV/AIDS. The organization's records measure 377.0 linear feet and include the organization's client, financial, development, human resources, programmatic, and outreach, files from 2003 to the present.
The Asian American Arts Alliance (A4) is a non-profit arts service organization dedicated to strengthening Asian American artists and arts/cultural groups in New York City through funding, promotion and community building. The collection consists of fiscal and donor files, organizational and artist grant files, administrative files, photographs and other visual media documenting A4 events and artists, publicity materials, A4-generated publications, and a collection of A/PA books.
The Asian American Arts Centre (AAAC) is a New York City-based community arts organization dedicated to promoting the preservation and creative vitality of Asian American cultural growth through the arts and its historical and aesthetic linkage to other communities. Created in 2007, the AAAC Artist Archive preserves documentation from 150 selected artists who exemplified the major issues that compose the subject of Asian American art.
The Asian American Federation, founded in 1990, is a nonprofit organization that works to advance the civic voice and well-being of Asian Americans in the New York metropolitan area. The organization is composed of 46 member agencies. The Asian American Federation collection totals 171 linear feet and documents the organization’s fiscal conduit, research, and advocacy functions.
The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), a non-profit educational and professional organization, provides networking opportunities and support for Asian/Pacific American (A/PA) journalists and students of journalism, raises awareness within the A/PA community of news media, and monitors the media for accuracy and fairness in its coverage of Asian/Pacific Americans. Spanning in date from 1987 to 2007, the collection includes correspondence, minutes, photographs, press clippings and releases, event flyers, and various subject files relating to its workshops and media watch campaigns.
Founded in 1974, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) is a national organization that protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans.
Asian American Writer’s Workshop (AAWW) was founded in 1991 as a nonprofit literary arts organization dedicated to the creation, publishing, development, and dissemination of Asian American creative writing. The collection totals 179 linear feet and consists of the records documenting the organization’s programming, and its resource library of Asian American poetry, fiction, and non-fiction books and journals.
Asian CineVision (ACV) is a non-profit media arts organization that develops, promotes and preserves films made by or about peoples of Asian descent. The collection contains correspondence, staff meeting notes, grant applications and a complete run of both Bridge and CineVue.
Dedicated to the needs and concerns of Asian Pacific American (APA) workers the foundations for the creation of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) were laid in 1990 when a number of APA labor activists presented the AFL-CIO with a proposal to better address a continued under-representation among APA workers in the labor movement by forming a national APA labor organization. Following the lessons learned from the examples of APA labor leaders in history, they understood the necessity of forming labor alliances, and sought to get more APA workers into unions, especially, those working in historically important industries such as garment factories and restaurants. The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance Records measure approximately 62.5 linear feet and document many of the activities of the national office of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) from the early years through 2008.
The non-profit organization, Asian Women in Business (AWIB), was founded in 1995 to provide resources and support for Asian women entrepreneurs. AWIB's Records total 14.0 linear feet and consist of books, press files, materials relating to its annual dinner and other events, newsletters, and quarterly and annual reports.
Asian Women United (AWU) is a New York City-based collective of Asian American women activists and educators that organized in 1978 when the Asian Women's Caucus was split into two groups. The materials in this collection include: the Asian Women United newsletter (In Touch), flyers from events hosted by Asian Women United, flyers from events done in coalition with other groups, workshop notes, meeting notes, administrative files, correspondence, and newspaper articles.
The Asian/American Center (A/AC) at Queens College, City University of New York, is committed to producing and supporting community-based research on the diverse populations that make up the Asian diaspora in the Americas. The Asian/American Center (A/AC) Records total 76.5 linear feet and contain over 2,500 titles, including books, periodicals, working papers, monographs, and VHS tapes by or about Asians from North, Central, and South America as well as the Pacific, Carribbean, and Asia.
The Asian/Pacific/American (A/P/A) Institute was founded in 1996 in response to student interest combined with New York University’s commitment to global excellence. The records of the Asian/Pacific/American (A/P/A) Institute, dated 1994-2003, document the activities of the Institute from its founding in 1996 and reflect student events, faculty affairs and collaboration with the A/P/A studies program.
The collection consists of 28 interviews that the Brooklyn Historical Society in partnership with the Chinatown History Museum (now Museum of Chinese in America) conducted regarding the Chinese community in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Conducted between 1993 and 1994, the 38 tapes are approximately 90 minutes each in length and record interviews in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese.
The Cecily Brownstone Papers are a diverse collection of materials, including: correspondence, press releases, photographs, publicity, articles and recipes authored by Brownstone, general food-related articles and recipes authored by others, calendars, notes, manuscript recipe books, photocopied cookbooks, bibliographical inventories, a menu collection, a postcard collection, a recipe box collection, a pamphlet collection, and videotapes relating to the food industry. Of particular relevance to the A/PA survey project are author files on Asian and Asian American cookbook authors and her personal notes on Asian cuisine.
Interdisciplinary artist Andrea Callard collaborated with Sam Sue on “The Tenement: Place for Survival, Object of Reform” in 1988, an installation that was part of a larger project artist Martha Rosler envisioned to engage artists, activists, and theorists in discussions about the then politically-charged issue of homelessness in New York City. The Andrea Callard Papers contain materials relating to Callard's career as an artist and art educator as well as her involvement in artist organizations.
May Chen (1948- ) is a labor organizer who for more than twenty years has been actively engaged in outreach and advocacy for immigrant workers. Totaling 6.5 linear feet and spanning the dates 1989 to 2005, the collection documents Chen’s work as a labor organizer within the Chinese immigrant community.
Tung Pok Chin (1915-1988) immigrated to the U.S. as a "paper son" in 1934 and later established his own laundry business in Brooklyn, New York, with the assistance of the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance (CHLA). He was the first Chinese person in New York City to enlist in the U. S. Navy. Mak Ting Fong (married name, Wing Fong Chin, b. 1928) first arrived in the United States in 1950 with her husband, Tung Pok Chin. She joined Local 23-25 of the ILGWU in 1957 and became increasingly active in the Local's affairs, serving as vice-president and, from 1983, Executive Board chairperson. The collection consists of subject files, oversize posters, books and ephemera.
Dr. Gloria Wong Chung (1925-2007), a leader in the struggle for healthcare and empowerment in New York City’s Chinatown and one of the first female Asian/Pacific American psychiatrists, was born in Taishan, Guangdong Province. Measuring one linear foot, the collection spans in date from 1947 to 2004 and comprise of materials in various formats documenting Dr. Chung’s struggles to promote healthcare and empowerment in New York City’s Chinatown and her work as one of the first female Asian/Pacific American psychiatrists.
The Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF), the nation’s only pan-Asian children’s advocacy organization, aims to improve the health and well-being of Asian Pacific American children and families in New York City. The collection consists of publications, resource and research files, minutes, financial information, files on CACF programs and projects, publicity materials, photographs and administrative files.
Creative Time is a nonprofit arts organization founded in 1973 to support the creation of innovative, site-specific works by professional artists for public presentation in vacant spaces of historical and architectural interest throughout New York City. The Creative Time Archive is an extremely diverse collection that comprehensively documents the on-going history of Creative Time.
After studying art and philosophy at Kenyon College, artist David Diao began working at the influential Sam Kootz Gallery, where he immersed himself in abstract expressionism. Since the 1960s, Diao has actively engaged with questions across multiple movements and traditions, including formalism, modernism, minimalism, abstract expressionism. His papers measure approximately 3.0 linear feet and consists of grant applications, financial records, correspondence, and significant quantities of digital files, including letters and photographs of completed works.
Often credited for introducing bhangra and British Asian music to North American audiences, DJ Rekha is a producer, activist, and musician. The DJ Rekha Papers contain files on marketing, publicity, events and programming, artist biographies, and administration.
Epoxy was an Asian American artists' collective founded in 1982 by artists originally from Hong Kong, including Bing Lee, Eric Chan, Chung Kang Lok, Jerry Kwan, and Ming Fay. Members hoped that by collaborating, they would be reflective of cross-cultural influences. Totaling 0.5 linear feet, the collection includes reference materials, drawings, handwritten notes, press releases, press coverage, catalogs, slides, and photographs. In addition, there are a few pieces of artwork: a rubber tree sculpture, a cardboard tube piece, and some rubber stamps.
Founded in 1993 by a group of adoptive families, Families with Children from China – New York (FCC NY) fosters community among families with children who were adopted from China, provides resources to families at all stages of the adoption process, and celebrates the lives and experiences of adoptees.
Founded in 1978 by Stefan Eins, Fashion Moda quickly became an important voice in the art world during the late 1970s to mid-1980s. The Fashion Moda Archive is part of the Downtown Collection at Fales Special Collections Library, New York University. In its entirety, it is comprised of business files, nearly 400 photographs of exhibitions and artists, approximately 3200 35 mm slides documenting exhibitions and other events, grant proposals, artist resumes, correspondence, video tapes of the cable TV series “Making Coincidences,” press releases, newspaper articles, reviews, and artworks kept by founder Stefan Eins and others at Fashion Moda.
David Fender was a member of the Socialist Workers party and a number of its political factions and offshoots. The collection contains extensive correspondence, manuscripts and articles, subject files and records of the Fourth International.
