Asian/Asian American History: Primary Sources: Online Digital Archives and Collections

The NDL Digital Collections enables a user to search and view a variety of resources, collected and stored by the National Diet Library of Japan. To learn more: https://dl.ndl.go.jp/en/intro.html#idx1

The Hoji Shinbun digital collection is currently the world’s largest online archive of free-access, full-image newspapers published by overseas Japanese and their descendants. The holdings of each title are browseable by date, and each title is cross-searchable with other titles on the platform. This collection currently contains 14 newspapers published in Hawaii and North America. From Stanford University

The World and Japan database project consists of four databases funded by grants-in-aid from Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. The databases include "Japanese Politics and International Relations" (日本政治・国際関係データベース), "Chronology of the 20th and 21st Centuries" (データベース２０世紀・２１世紀年表), "Foreign Policy of Asia-Pacific Countries" (アジア・太平洋諸国の対外政策), and "Abbreviations for International Relations" (略語データベース). Many documents are available in English and Chinese as well as Japanese. Information from University of Pennsylvania libguide creator-Rebecca Mendelson, https://guides.library.upenn.edu/c.php?g=476055&p=3255613

JACAR has built and operates an online database for releasing Asian historical records, that are historical documents of Japan concerning to the modern Japanese relations with other countries, particularly those in Asia. The documents of the archive are provided by the National Archives of Japan, the Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, and the National Institute for Defense Studies of the Ministry of Defense of Japan.

Provides access to oral histories, photographs, maps, documents and more

Run by a scholar at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, this site aims to serve as "an authoritative, one-stop information resource and sociological exploration of the historical, demographic, political, and cultural issues that make up today's diverse Asian American community."

AIISF's mission is to promote a greater understanding of Pacific Coast immigration and its role in shaping America’s past, present and future. AIISF has created an online repository of stories entitled “Immigrant Voices."

Categories include: Asia Discovers America, Asians and the Making of America, World War II and Asian Americans, The Newest Immigrants

Provides access to primary resources covering California history from 1780-present. Includes a themed collection on Asian Americans and items related to the Chinese Exclusion Act and over 200 artifacts relating to the 442nd Regional Combat Team.

This resource resulted from an investigation, launched in the early 1920s and headquartered at Stanford University, into the economic, religious, educational, civic, biological, and social conditions among Chinese, Japanese, and other non-European residents of the US and Canadian Pacific Coast. The holdings consist primarily of life-history questionnaires; in addition, there are numerous personal reflections, financial records, conference reports, meeting notes, bibliographies, printed materials and more.

Founded in 2008, in Philadelphia, PA, in order to document and provide access to the diverse and relatively unknown stories of South Asian Americans. This collection collects information from he South Asian diaspora in the United States, including those who trace their heritage to Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the many South Asian diaspora communities across the globe.

Part of UC Berekely's South Asians in North America archival collection

The Library of Congress collections provides access to a wide range of primary source material documenting American history and culture, including text, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, and maps.

Articles and advertisements from Harper's Weekly Magazine

(USC Digital Library) The Chinese Historical Society of Southern California Collection documents artifacts from two sites in Southern California. The first site is represented by about 1,040 color images of artifacts from the original Los Angeles Chinatown; an additional 150 images document artifacts from the site of a Chinese laundry in Santa Barbara.

(Library of Congress) Includes digital scans of both Adams's 242 original negatives and his 209 photographic prints (with the print on the left and the negative on the right).

Densho's mission is to preserve the history and stories of Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II in camps in the US. Access to Densho's digital archive of internment camp newspapers and other primary sources is available with free registration; other materials are available without registering

Part of Calisphere. Includes photographs, letters and diaries, oral histories, art, and more.

An important publication of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL)
Issues available online from 1929-1955

(USC Digital Library) This collection brings more than 13,000 pages of documents, over 1,900 photographs, and about 180 sound files together chronicling the Korean American community during the period of resistance to Japanese rule in Korea and reveals the organizational and private experience of Koreans in America between 1903 and 1965.

This UC-Irvine resource provides access to primary and other resource material focusing on the experience of post-1975 refugees and immigrants from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam

This UC-Irvine site provides information about its special collections concerning the experience of Vietnamese, Laotian/Hmong, and Cambodian people in the US and diaspora.

A collection of resources relating to Hmong and Southeast Asian history, culture, language, and current events. Includes media contacts, information on travel and study in Southeast Asia, and photo archives.

Contains digital documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government.

Compiled by Douglas O. Linder of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, this resource provides primary source and other materials concerning some of the 20th Century's key trials.

A multimedia archive devoted to the Supreme Court of the United States, its justices, and its work. It aims to be a complete and authoritative source for all audio recorded in the Court since the installation of a recording system in October 1955.