·.~.rnS/6007

PROPOSALFOR GROuP S~~Y

~.:"~'.l~!'nt enr i tLe d "Guidelines for Group Study" is available in the Office· of the Registrar. Proposals for(rj~O Study shoulJ be prepared and aub~itted to the Registrar in accordance yith these Guidelinea uhich have~e"r\ established by the Educational Policy Committee. Propoaals for the fall semester should be submitted by~·':nc 1 of the preceding sprir:g semester; proposals for the spring semester are due Dece:nber 1st of the faUs cr.es ce r ,

:.~scriptive title of History~rc?osej Gro~p Study _of Chinese in Rhode Island II

?"c·'E'srec ab'>reviation of title for entry on each stucent's permanent record (limit -- 20 chs rac ce r s and spaces) .

R I C H I N E S E H I S T 0 R Y I I

~';a~e of Fa:ul ty Sponsor(s) Robert Lee D HistoryI P ea se p r i n e ) --::______ ept. _

I 78 79 Xtaken during Semester , 19__ 19__ " ~-::-SA.T/NC R~STRICTIO~ e YESio ~e NO

Group Studies with the same or very similar topic may not be repeated by II student for credit •.. except with tht'!'approval of the Educational Policy Committee.

Pr i n t below the narne s of those students intending to do the work for course- credit. If the p ropo aa I isappr ove d , the students listed will be officially registered fOl: t.:'e course; no further action. is necessarv ~i.d.\the Registrar. In accordance with the Guidelines. additional students will be permitted to enter the Gra~p~tu;y at a later date only with the approval of the Faculty Spon so r ; in such. cases. 8. Change af Course Permit;~ISC be processed with the Registrar.

PLEASE PRINT k~D LIST ALPHABETICALLY

5 L t N Fi tK S d N G dem. .. as lame . .. - 1"s arne tu ent: ,0. rae Ooticr:

7 Chong Cynthia 11032 ABC/NC

4 Fa Angelina 24904 .~ Gee Kenneth 30098slHUang Anna 39832.,

7 Lau Ronald 46987 I7 Lee Gordon 42511}7 Lee Theresa 475235 Wong DaVld ~T19l ''IV

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Angie Fa

SUMMARY OF "EHE HISTORY OF l'HECHINESE IN RHODE ISLAND"GROUP INDEPENDENT S'rUDY PROJECT

. When this pro ject was begun by the study gr-oup- i-n-Fepruary' of1978. its purpose and immediate goals were clear to all thoseinvolved. In brief. the study group wished to help preservethe history of Chinese in Rhode Island by collecting from allavailable sources as much data as possible on this subject. Inaddition. the study _gro~p realized·the~importan~e.of cOr.!lpilinganoral history by conducting interviews with people in the commu-nity. Primarily. this collected data would be made available toindividuals. groups or organizations needing such data in anyfurther study of the history of the Rhode Island Chinese. Infact, the study group itself may eventually conduct a thorougha al sis of the data and cQI.Qp'~lea !Vz:Jttenhisto;::y., .

However. before the start of this project~ little in theway of a modus operandi had been established~ It was necessaryto plan a course of action from scratch. The firqt major taskwas to .locate possible sources of data and to begin research in .the most important and accessible sources. Different researchtasks were then divided among the group.

For example. the newspapers, Providence Journal and, to alesser extent. Evening Bulletin, proved to be a vast store ofthe information sought. Through these newspapers. the studygroup was abl~ to trace the origins in the late 19th century~the early deveLopmerrt and migrations Qf the Chinatown communityin Providence, and to learn about many significant people andevents that were a part of the history of .theChinese communityhere. About 200 articles were reviewed and recorded: notes weretaken on almost all of these articles and placed on file: Almost20 photocopies were made of the lengthier articles and those ofsignificant historical value for permanent safekeeping. Theinfor.;natiungathered from the newspapers ran the gamut of topics:from the first Chinese wedding in Providence in 1926 to the firstChinese divorce in 1927; the aid-to-China campaign in the 1930'sf,Chinese Merchants' Association conventions; the plight of theProvidence.Chinese du~ing the Depression of the 1930's; the RhodeIsland Chinese School, etc. By far the most valuable key to thisstore of information was the Rhode Island Hist.cricalIndex, whichis located in the Providence Public Library arid maintains a rec-ord of all articles in the Journal and Bulletin dating from 1900to the present concerned in any way with the Chinese in Rhode Is-land. For articles that appeared before 1900, an index compiledin 1916 by Harry P. Davis proved very useful. The ProvidenceJournal index in the Rhode Island Historical Society library wasalso helpful in the initial research in this hewspaper.

Another ~ajor task that was completed was the review andcompilation of census materials. These will facilitate futurestudy of the population trends of the Chines~ in Rhode Island.

Tables of population statistics for Rhode Island were gatheredfrom the national censuses from 1880 to 1970. Many of thesetables include a breakdown of the statistics for individualcities of Rhode Island and even the various wards of Providence.Especially in the more recent cerisuses, the Chinese were clas-sified according to their country of birth (either America orChina), annual income, education, etc. All census materialswere found in the John D. Rockefeller. Jr. Library.

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Another interesting and useful source of data was the Bene-ficent Congregational Church, which has had ties in one form oranother with the Chinese community in Providence from about~.1880up to the present day. For example, throughout the late 19thand early 20th century, a Sunday school was run by the churchspecifically for the benefit of the Chinese community. Enroll-ment in this Sunday school reached as many.as 85 students.Therefore, attendance records, logs, names and addresses and otherinformation about students enrolled in the school were thoroughlyreviewed and recorded, This information will be useful in study-ing the relationship between ~he church and the Chinese communityhere, especially in the early days , It should also be of somehelp in population studies, in gaining an idea of ~he locationsof residence of many of the early Chinese in Providence and thesurrounding areas, or even in tracing certain individuals or fam-ilies.

Other sources which were checked are the Bro\~ UniversityArchives, Bro'w'.'11Sociology Department library, and the Athenaeum ..No useful information was found in these places, except some ref-erences found in the EroWn Archives to pertinent manuscripts lo-cated in certain institutions in other places in the country.fhese manuscripts maybe worth studying at some other time. Arather comprehensive search was made through English and.Chinesebooks in the Rockefeller library that could possibly yield anyinformation relevant to this study. Some data were collectedfrom these sources •. Research was also begun into the immigrationrecords of Rhode Island contained in the same library. Finally,a visit was made to the New Pawtuxet CemetarYt where many Chineseare buried. Perhaps through continued research in the records ofth~ cemetary,a partial vital statistics record of sorts could becompiled.

While all this research work proceeded. the. study group con-tinued to meet every week to discuss findings~ organize researchtasks and to study briefly the general history of Chinese in theU. S. The most important ~t.e?ctsJ;:~.a.d_.wer.e,~.Woman:lAJar":ior'by -Maxine-King-ston and Longtime Galiforn' by Victor and Brett De Bary Nee.Supplementary materials included a timeline of important histori-cal events. and articles extracted from other sources concerningthe methods of research in the history of Chinese in America.Study of the broader history of Chinese in America was important.

because it provided a historical framework in which to study themore specific history of the Rhode Island Chinese. After all,in many ways, the history of the Rhode Island Chinese shows, or

reflects, many of the trends that occurred on the national level~.More importantly, a general knowledge of the history of Chinese

immigration to America added more understanding and significanceto the work of interviewing local Chinese, many of whom personal-ly experienced theevents described in the literature.

Before any interviews were conducted, letters were sent tothe Chinese community explaining the nature and purpose of theproject and encouraging their help and support. The letters werethe first formal contact with the community. Informal contactwas made through acquaintances cSf a~few.pepplein the stu5iY gro~p.Over ten interviews were conducted, almost all of which were tapedand transcribed. Through these interviews, the study group wasable to gain firsthand information of a more personal ,nature aboutthe history and present situation of the Chinese community inRhode Island. The interviews also revealed the names of peoplewhom it would be important to interview. Nevertheless, the mostimportant function of the interviews was to provide the Chineseof Rhode Island with -the opportunity to recount their personalhistory and experiences.

In summary, the work accomplished during tnis past semesterhas laid a firm foundation for further study of the history ofChinese in Rhode Island. Much of the primary research has beencompleted; other sources that have not been used have at leastbeen identified and located (e.g., archives. government bureaus,other libraries, etc.). There is presently more than enough his-torical data to facilitate a more systematic approach to futureresearch. Just as important in laying this foundation is the con-tact that has been made with the community. That is, at the veryleast, people are aware of this project. More significantly, tieshave been wade with the people who were interviewed. Throughthese ties, the study group, with its increased experience in in-terviewing and working with people in the community, will be ableto reach a considerably greater number of people and hence devel-op a much more complete oral history.

BROvVN U N I V E I~ S I I~Y Prouidencr; Rlwd(, Island. 02912

ARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE Oct 3,1978

Dean Walter E. MasseyDean of the CollegeBrown University

Dear Dean Massey,This letter is to express my full support for the GISP: The History

of the Chinese in Rhode Island and its proposal for funding. This GISP is asignificant contribution to the Brown curriculum in a number of ways. Mostimmediately, It begins to Address the increasingly pressing need in thecurriculum for course, In the general area of Asian-American studies. Al-though many individual students have approached various department~ith re-quests and proposals for courset in this area, the Asian experience in Americahas been dismissed in the social science and humanities curriculae as being"too narrow", "irrelevant," or "insignificant". Even though these claims C"If1

immediately been seen as specious and the attitudes which engender them parochial,courser such as this GISP serve to val ida te the "legitimacy" 6f such study.Furthermore, with the increasing numbers of Asian-Americans enrolling atBrown, courses such as this GISP provide an attractive alternative approachto the social sciences and humanities, which at Brown are heavily Euro-centricor which, in the case of the long neglected ASlan studies program, are focusedon the "Great Traditions" of Asian civilization. Th lrd ly , this particularGISP ~ith its focus on the Chinese community in Rhode Island is an important,)pprotunity for students to establish strong intellectual ties with theirRIH,Je Island em,ill~)l)ment. In a situation where too often the students' experience~ith Providence is limited to recreational or extra-currlcular activities, thisGlS? offers its members an opprotunity to relate to at least one aspect ofRh ode Island on an intellectual level. At the sametime this intellectualexperience Is a deeply personal one since it involves the intimacy of theinterview situation. Last hut not least, the final product, a source bookon the history and development of the Chinese in Rhode IslandJwill be animportant contribution to the Chinese community from the GISP and, by extensionfrom. the university.

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For these various reasons, I strongly urge you to fund this courseas fully as possible. In order to make this course succeed even on themost fundamental level serious funring is a necessity. I will, of course,be glad to administer nby funds that might be made available through either.the Political ~cience de pe rtment; or the !' istory department. F ease feelfree to contact fJ1e (ext. 2770 ) if I can be of an assist~nce.

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