Top of page

Category: Asian American History

A color photograph of a contemporary street scene in Chinatown, San Francisco. Signs with Chinese characters are on the building and marquees, the biggest of which is for Canton Bazaar. A couple dozen red paper lanterns hang on wires that cross the street

Research Inspired by Fiction and Fiction Inspired by Research: Exploring San Francisco’s Historic Chinatown

Posted by: Alli Hartley-Kong

Ever since I started working at the Library of Congress, I always pull up loc.gov/collections when I’m reading historical fiction to find relevant real-life photographs, newspapers, and documents. Recently, I read Malinda Lo’s Young Adult historical fiction novel Last Night at the Telegraph Club. The story follows Lily, a Chinese-American teenager living in San Francisco …

An 18th century Japanese print shows a girl in a kimono, looking though a window at blooming cherry trees on the banks of a river.

Japanese Culture Day at the Library of Congress

Posted by: Rachel Gordon

  If your family is in the Washington D.C. area on Saturday, April 1st, we would love to see you at the Thomas Jefferson Building for Japanese Culture Day. This celebration is one of the Library’s most popular family-friendly traditions, and a chance for children of all ages to learn about Japanese culture through stories, …

Two children seated at a table handling items, with an adult standing over them

Remembering Norman Mineta

Posted by: Sasha Dowdy

This is a guest post by Informal Learning Office’s virtual intern, Eori Tokunaga.  Norman Yoshio Mineta, who passed away earlier this month, had a long and influential history in American politics and was a proponent of restitution for Japanese American families who were incarcerated during World War II. We are celebrating his contributions to this …