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Asian & Pacific Cultural Center Records, 1983-2016

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Oregon State University. Asian & Pacific Cultural Center
Title
Asian & Pacific Cultural Center Records
Dates
1983-2016 (inclusive)
1990-2010 (bulk)
Quantity
10.00 cubic feet, (4 cubic foot boxes, 2 oversize boxes (16x20 and 23x31 inches), 4 map-folders)
Collection Number
RG 245
Summary
The Asian & Pacific Cultural Center (APCC) Records document programs and events sponsored by the Center; students and staff active in the Center; and other student organizations associated with the Center. The Center was established at Oregon State University in 1991 to educate the campus and local community about Asian and Pacific Islander cultures as well as the Asian Pacific American (APA) experience.
Items from this collection have been digitized and are available online.
Repository
Oregon State University Libraries, Special Collections and Archives Research Center
Special Collections and Archives Research Center
121 The Valley Library
Oregon State University
Corvallis OR
97331-4501
Telephone: 5417372075
Fax: 5417378674
scarc@oregonstate.edu
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Languages
English
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Historical Note

The Asian & Pacific Cultural Center (APCC) at Oregon State University was established to provide a welcoming and engaging space for the retention and success of students through academic, cultural, and social programming addressing the personal needs, academic excellence, and professional development of Asian and Pacific Islanders. The initiative for the establishment of the ACC (the APCC was originally called the Asian Cultural Center) started as early as1980 and was officially established in 1991.

The ACC gained its first space in Snell Hall 131 and then moved to its former permanent space at 2638 NW Jackson Street in the College Hill West Historic District. The Asian Cultural Center was renamed as the Asian & Pacific Cultural Center in 2003 to be inclusive of the Pacific Islander communities. The new APCC located on Jefferson Way, broke ground in May 2014 and officially opened to the general public in February 2015.

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Content Description

The Asian & Pacific Cultural Center (APCC) Records document the activities and resources used by the center in order to further their goal of providing an engaging space for students and community members around the Asian and Pacific Islander experience.

The collection contains information surrounding the administration of the center including budget information, reports, handbooks, and employee information. There is also a robust collection of meeting minutes and materials. Materials surrounding the administration and promotion of affiliated OSU clubs and organizations that are related to APA cultural engagement are kept as well.

Next, a collection of resources used to better inform students and staff within the center as well as the OSU campus at large are included. These resources contain information on specific countries represented within the APA community, multicultural advising guides, statistics, and cultural recipes.

Events were also a big part of the Center’s engagement within the community. Materials about the events put on by the center and on OSU's campus, as well as related events in surrounding communities are also represented in the form of planning and promotional materials.

Publications put out by the center and related programs on campus are kept in a series as well. There are also Newspaper clippings saved that are related to the center and its community members.

Then, there are materials related to the remodel and relocation of the center. These show architectural designs and schematics. Some of the materials also include information on the remodel/relocations of other cultural centers including the Cesar Chavez Cultural Center (CCCC), the Black Cultural Center (BCC), and the Native American Longhouse.

A large collection of photographic materials are contained within the collection too. They depict events organized by the APCC including Japanese Cultural Night, a skiing trip, an end-of-the-year barbeque, an inter-racial dating workshop, Sibling Weekend Events, and a food-eating contest. Other images include views of the building housing the APCC and portrait shots of APCC members and staff. Most of the items are color prints and negatives.

Digitized versions of eight APCC curated photo albums are available online. The albums depict APCC events and activities as well as Oregon State students and staff affiliated with the Center for 1987-2004. Most of the albums depict a one- or two-year period. The albums include images of holiday celebrations, including New Year events; social gatherings; cooking demonstrations; dance performances; retreats and workshops; and renovations to the Center's facilities as well as newsletters. Other student organizations are documented in the albums, including the International Students of OSU (ISOSU); Vietnamese Student Association; Laotian Student Association; and Hui O Hawaii. The albums include images of the staff of other cultural centers at Oregon State as well as training offered by Diversity Development staff. Also included are 13 albums of the OSU Hui o Hawai'i organization, dated from the late 1980s to the mid-2000s, as well as a 1998-1999 OSU Asian Pacific American Education Office album. The original albums have been retained by the Center.

The collection also includes posters and tabletop display panels created by the APCC and other Asian and Pacific Islander organizations and clubs at Oregon State. These were featured at APCC events to publicize student associations; they also include general information about the APCC. Some of the panels are topic-oriented, addressing subjects such as health issues in Hawai’i, the Chinese zodiac calendar, the voyages of Zheng He, and AIDS in the red light districts of India. Many of the posters include photographs. Digital photographs of all of the posters are available upon request; not all physical posters were retained.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Asian & Pacific Cultural Center Records (RG 245), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Series 1: Administration, 1990-2015; Series 2: Affiliated and Related Programs and Clubs, 1991-2016; Series 3: Resources, 1983-2006; Series 4: Events, 1991-2016; Series 5: Publications, 1990-2015; Series 6: Architecture and Remodel Information, 1998-2012; Series 7: Photographic Material, 1983-2013; Series 8: Albums, 1986-2005; Series 9: Posters, Undated

Acquisition Information

The materials were transferred from the Asian & Pacific Cultural Center in 2011. Further additions were added to the collection in 2019.

Future Additions

Additions to the collection are expected.

Processing Note

We acknowledge that materials in SCARC collections and the language that describes them may be harmful. We are actively working to address our descriptive practices; for more information please see our SCARC Anti-Racist Actions Statement online.

SCARC describes the contents of its collections using the language and terminology of the collections themselves. Since culturally acceptable terminology shifts over time, some of the terms that appear in these materials are currently outdated or offensive. For instance, the terms “undocumented immigrant” or simply "noncitizen" have now replaced the once widely used, and dehumanizing, term "alien" - this term is present in this collection in reference to the title and body of a 1991 master's thesis kept within the APCC resources. Nevertheless, these materials are part of Asian American histories in that they can provide valuable insight into the social construction of race, the perception and treatment of immigrants, and the presence of Asian American communities and cultures.

[Date of acknowledgement: July 2023]

Related Materials

Related Special Collections and Archives Research Center's collections include the Diversity Development Office Records (RG 228), the Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center Records (RG 244) and the Pride Center Records (RG 236). The Educational Opportunities Program Records (RG 230), Office of Multicultural Affairs Records (RG 225), the Minority Education Office Records (RG 229), the KBVR-TV Moving Images and Sound Recordings, and the International Students of Oregon State University (ISOSU) Records (RG 247) also document services for non-traditional and minority students at OSU. All of these collections are components of the Oregon Multicultural Archives. The University Publications Photographs (P 094) include numerous images of student cultural events on campus.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

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Subject Terms

  • Asian American college students--Oregon--Corvallis.
  • Asian students--Oregon--Corvallis.
  • Clubs--Oregon--Corvallis.
  • College environment--Oregon--Corvallis.
  • Filipino students--Oregon--Corvallis.
  • Hmong Americans--Oregon--Corvallis.
  • Minority college students--Oregon--Corvallis.
  • Pacific Islander American students--Oregon--Corvallis.
  • Student activities--Oregon--Corvallis.
  • Students, Foreign--Oregon--Corvallis.
  • Vietnamese students--Oregon--Corvallis.

Corporate Names

  • Oregon State University--Students.

Form or Genre Terms

  • Photograph albums.
  • Photographic prints.

Finding Aid Authors: Adriane Burk and Alexus Austin.
2023

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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