The Stanford University Archives contains more than 2,200 collections documenting the history of Stanford, including over 30,000 linear feet of physical records and more than 20 TB of digital content featuring a wide range of topics, groups, and individuals. 

Collections are cataloged in SearchWorks. Collection finding aids are available via Online Archive of California. Many digital exhibits are available via Spotlight. 

The following collections, listed in chronological order, include extensive content relating to the history of the Asian and Asian American community on campus and beyond:

• California Asian American Artists Biographical Survey Records circa 1850-2007

The California Asian American Artists Biographical Survey Collection began as a project of San Francisco State University in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art. The collection has been housed at Stanford University since 2003 as part of the Asian American Art Project directed by Stanford professor Gordon H. Chang and San Francisco State University professor Mark Dean Johnson. Contents include biographical files on more than 1,000 artists active in California between 1850 and 1965, containing exhibition records, catalogs, press coverage, and examples of artwork (in the form of slides or photographs); in some cases there is also correspondence and/or interviews. Some materials may be photocopies. Because of the date range of the project and the nature of immigration before the 1970s, artists of Chinese and Japanese ancestry are predominate in these files. Materials can be searched online via the Online Archive of California.

• Stanford University map collection, 1853-1997

Includes maps showing some of the locations of the various China Camps located at the Palo Alto Stock Farm: Map 152 (1878-79), Map 158 (undated), Map 801 (1917). Materials can be searched online via the Online Archive of California.

• Payson J. Treat papers, 1855-1973

Papers of former Stanford history professor Payson Treat, includes letters from fellow history professor Yamato Ichihashi and Japanese American Stanford students written from internment camps during WWII. This collection is in the Hoover Institution Library & Archives and can be searched online via the Online Archive of California.

• Stanford family scrapbooks. 1865-1894

Includes newspaper clippings about Leland Stanford and his evolving viewpoints regarding Chinese laborers living in California. Materials can be searched online via the Online Archive of California.

• Palo Alto Stock Farm records, 1875-1913

Records of Leland Stanford's Santa Clara county property, the Palo Alto Stock Farm (devoted to the breeding and training of trotting horses) and Tehama County property, the Vina Ranch (primarily a vineyard and winery with some horse breeding facilities.) Contains correspondence, letter books, auction catalogs, daily journals, maps and employee records, including information about Chinese employees and tenants. Materials can be searched online via the Online Archive of California.

• Journals, 1881-1887

Includes diaries of Charles Gunnison, personal friend of Stanford University Trustee Timothy Hopkins, including transcript of meeting between Hopkins and Menlo Park Anti-Chinese League, 1884. Gives details about daily running of Sherwood Hall, similar to daily running of Palo Alto Stock Farm; both estates relied on Chinese labor.

• Isabella Cass diary, 1884-1885

Diary of a visitor to Sherwood Hall and Palo Alto Stock Farm, including her observations about Chinese employees at Sherwood Hall and Hotel del Monte. Materials can be searched online via the Online Archive of California.

• Stanford University publications and ephemera collection, 1885-2011

This intentionally assembled collection contains publications, printed matter, and ephemera documenting Stanford University, including Asian American student publications (call numbers 7750 AASA and 7980) . Additionally, the Palo Alto Stock Farm records (call number 0006) includes an entry about Jane Stanford bringing four Chinese cooks from Sacramento to San Francisco when the family relocated. Materials can be searched online via the Online Archive of California.

• Stanford University, Arboretum, records, 1886-1994 (inclusive), 1886-1923 (bulk)

Includes daily journals kept by the first university gardener, Thomas Douglas, with entries relating to Chinese employees. Materials can be searched online via the Online Archive of California.

• Walter and Emma Fong Collection 1889-1915

Contains photographs, manuscript materials, and printed materials related to the lives of Walter Ngon Fong (1866-1906, widely reported to be the first Chinese student to graduate from Stanford [class of 1896, A.B.]) and his wife, Emma Howse Fong. Materials can be searched online via the Online Archive of California.

• Stanford University, Controller's Office, records, 1891-1998

Includes the Controller’s Office Records and Ledgers (1891-1893) with entries indicating Chinese cooks were hired for Encina Hall and Roble Hall in 1891. Materials can be searched online via the Online Archive of California.

• Associated Students of Stanford University records, 1891-2018

Collection includes correspondence, minutes, reports, publications, financial records, and other materials. Includes materials relating to the ASSU Minority Affairs Task Force, 1982, and the University Committee on Minority Issues, 1999. Materials can be searched via the Online Archive of California.

• Ray Lyman Wilbur papers, 1906-1964

Papers of former Stanford President Ray Lyman Wilbur, including correspondence from Japanese American Stanford students written from internment camps during WWII. This collection is in the Hoover Institution Library & Archives and can be searched online via the Online Archive of California.

• San Francisco earthquake and fire collection, 1906-1979

Includes a letter written in Chinese by Ah Wing, addressed to the Stanford community following the April 18, 1906 earthquake. Materials can be searched via the Online Archive of California.

• Stanford University, Japanese Students Association, records, 1908-1962

The Japanese Students Association was established in 1902. Records include guest books, 1917-1962; scrapbook of clippings, photographs, and postcards, 1916-1932, pertaining to sports teams, construction of the Association's clubhouse, the YMCA convention in 1922, and group shots of the Association; photograph album of graduates and professors, ca. 1909-ca. 1922; and a journal published by the Association (January 1921) with articles by Stanford faculty and graduates. Collection also includes diaries (in English) kept by So Sabro Yamada in 1909 while in high school in Los Angeles and in 1911 while a student at Stanford. Materials can be searched via the Online Archive of California.

• Shau Wing Chan Papers 1911-1994

Chan received his M.A. (1932) and his Ph.D. (1937) in English from Stanford University. He joined the Stanford faculty in 1938 and retired in 1972. He was instrumental in founding what is now the Department of Asian Languages, serving as its executive head from 1958-1962. Collection contains notebooks, exams, reading notes, and a draft of his thesis from his graduate studies, 1930-1933; professional and personal correspondence, 1938-1949, including letters pertaining to his immigration status; correspondence, memoranda, and reports pertaining to Stanford administrative and departmental matters, 1935-1982; and family papers, 1911-1994. Materials can be searched via the Online Archive of California.

• Pardee Lowe papers, 1915-2007

Papers of Stanford graduate and active alum Pardee Lowe, who is said to be the first Chinese American author. Collection includes writings, correspondence, notes, reports, memoranda, minutes, bulletins, clippings, pamphlets, serial issues, and other printed matter, relating to international education, educational activities of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, political and economic conditions in East Asia, Sino-Soviet relations, Chinese Americans, especially in San Francisco, and Stanford University. This collection is in the Hoover Institution Library & Archives and can be searched online via the Online Archive of California.

• Stanford Chinese Club records 1916-1963

Collection consists of one bound volume listing officers, members, and budgets, and a PDF copy of a bound volume of meeting minutes. Materials can be searched via the Online Archive of California.

• Yamato Ichihashi papers, 1918-1963

Ichihashi was the first professor of Asian descent at Stanford, hired in 1913 in the history department. The collection includes reports, notes, and surveys concerning foreign relations between Japan and the West (1919-1928); uncorrected texts of the Washington Arms Limitation Conferences (1921-1922); reports and correspondence concerning the Institute of Pacific Relations, (1925); studies and surveys made by Ichihashi and others dealing with Japanese immigration to the United States; articles and reviews by Ichihashi; class notes; syllabi of his Japanese History courses; selected student papers; and Ichihashi's diaries, 1943-1963. Correspondence, notes and some memoirs of the World War II relocation of Japanese and Japanese-Americans from the West coast of the United States are also included. Materials can be searched via the Online Archive of California.

• Proposed Curriculum Procedures for Japanese Relocation Centers 1942

Contains reports and studies prepared for the War Relocation Authority by the summer session students of Education 299b, Paul R. Hanna, professor and project director; partially based on their visit to the Tule Lake Relocation Center in California. Materials can be searched via the Online Archive of California.

• Stanford University, Office of Student Activities and Leadership records, 1943-2008

Collection includes founding materials for many student organizations, including the Asian American Health Initiative, Asian American Theatre Project, Asian American Graduate Student Association, Asian Pacific American Voices in Health, Association of Chinese Students and Scholars at Stanford, Buddhist Community at Stanford, Hong Kong Student Association, Indonesian Club at Stanford, Korean-American Student Association, Outreach to Asian Immigrant Students, Singaporeans at Stanford, South Asian Students Association (SASA), Stanford Vietnamese Association, Taiwanese Cultural Society, and the Undergraduate Chinese American Association. Also information files on the Okada House, and fraternities and sororities, 1997-2004, Alpha Kappa Delta Phi, Lamda Phi Epsilon. Materials can be searched online via the Online Archive of California.

• Fu Chun Yu lab notebooks [facsimiles], 1949-1950

Fu Chun Yu, born in Shanghai in 1914, graduated from Peking University in 1936. He came to the United States in 1946 and received his PhD from Ohio State University in 1949; he then came to Stanford to work with physicist Felix Bloch. Yu returned to China in 1951, where he continued his career as professor of physics. Collection consists of three notebooks (in facsimile) kept by Yu while he was a post-doc in Prof. Felix Bloch’s NMR laboratory at Stanford; they cover Yu’s work with Warren Proctor that lead to a realization of the chemical shift in molecules. Materials can be searched online via the Online Archive of California.

• Emory M. Lee collection of Asian American papers, circa 1960-2001

Donated by Stanford graduate and active alum Emory Lee, the collection includes newspapers, newsletters, journals and periodicals pertaining to the Asian American experience. Includes postcards (both used and unused) depicting San Francisco's Chinatown. Emphasis is on the local San Francisco Bay Area, but also includes nationwide material.

• Albert Camarillo Papers 1960-2002

Includes records related to the University Committee on Minority Issues (UCMI) and student advocacy for Asian American faculty appointments in 1989. Albert Camarillo was appointed to the faculty in the Department of History at Stanford University in 1975 and the collection contains teaching materials from Camarillo's courses, most of which focus on race and ethnicity, urban history, and the Mexican American and Chicano experience in the American West. Materials can be searched online via the Online Archive of California.

• Stanford Area Chinese Club records 1964-1996

The Stanford Area Chinese Club was founded in 1965 with a goal of bringing education about Chinese culture to Palo Alto. Collection consists of administrative records, photographs, and materials and ephemera related to club events. Materials can be searched online via the Online Archive of California.

• Richard W. Lyman, President of Stanford University papers, 1965-1981

This collection consists of records from Richard W. Lyman's term as President of Stanford University (1970-1980), along with the records of the Provost. Some of the records were generated by the previous administration of Kenneth Pitzer. Includes coverage of the formation of the Asian American Student Alliance (later known as the Asian American Students' Association), and the development of East Asian studies and Asian languages courses at Stanford. Materials can be searched via the Online Archive of California.

• Nelson and Beverly Nagai Collection of Asian-American History and Culture circa 1968-1980

Nelson Nagai was the chairperson of the constitution committee of Stockton’s Yellow Seed, a community service organization. While at Stanford University, Nagai also served as the chairperson of the Asian American Student Association. During the International Hotel struggle, Nagai served as the auditor of the International Hotel Tenants Association. Collection includes publications & ephemera of late-20th century radical political activism centered in the Bay Area, with an emphasis on Asian-American activism. Includes correspondence, newspapers, pamphlets, periodicals, posters, printed ephemera, t-shirts, buttons, and videocassettes. Materials can be searched via the Online Archive of California.

• Asian American Students at Stanford University Newsletters and Ephemera 1969-1973

A small collection donated by former student Nelson Dong who was active in the Asian American Student Alliance and editor of their newsletter Ichimi Doshin, includes two group letters to Asian American students regarding organizing a campus group, 1969; the Asian American Student Alliance Newsletter, 1970; the newsletter Ichimi Doshin, 1971; one issue of the newsletter Embryo, September 1973; two items regarding minority representation on the Stanford student delegation to the U. S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 1970; and one clipping. Materials can be searched via the Online Archive of California.

• Asian Americans at Stanford Collection 1969-2009

Collection pertains to Asian American students and staff at Stanford and includes publications, conference papers, student papers, clippings, articles, letters, and other materials. Items of note include the transcript of an interview with Mary L. Wong, 1976; student papers from a class on Asian American Identity, 1975 and undated; and the photograph album from the student residence Junipero House (later named Okada House), 1971-72. Materials can be searched via the Online Archive of California.

• Stanford University, Asian American Activities Center, records, circa 1970-2018

Contains records pertaining to administrative matters of the Center, student groups sponsored by the Center, including the Asian American Students' Association, and courses in Asian American studies. Subject files pertain to Asian American mental health and the media. Included are news clippings pertaining to the Agenda for Action Coalition, a multi-ethnic coalition of students who, in 1989, occupied then President Donald Kennedy's office in what was known as the "Take Over," to demand more university attention to multicultural education, including establishment of ethnic studies, hiring ethnic studies faculty, and, the institutionalization of the ethnic community centers. There are also newsletters, memoranda, and email of the Asian Staff Forum, 1986-1996. Materials can be searched via the Online Archive of California.

• Stanford University, University Committee on Minority Issues, records, 1986-1989

The University Committee on Minority Issues (UCMI) was established by the President and Provost in October 1987 in response to a demand by the Rainbow Agenda (a coalition of minority groups) to explore the critical concerns of minority students, faculty, and staff at Stanford University. Records include correspondence, reports, surveys, questionnaires, interviews, tables, articles, brochures, clippings, audio tapes, and other items pertaining to minority students, faculty, and staff. Materials can be searched via the Online Archive of California.