Subscribe to our newsletter by emailNew Orange County & Southeast Asian Archive (OC & SEAA) Center
The Orange County & Southeast Asian Archive (OC & SEAA) Center officially opened on January 21, 2015 as a part of the University of California, Irvine (UCI) Libraries. The OC & SEAA Center documents and preserves OC Regional History and the diasporic experience of the Southeast Asian American community. The OC & SEAA Center also provides both physical and virtual spaces for intellectual discovery.
A grand opening was held on May 13, 2015, in partnership with the UCI Chancellors Club, to introduce key campus and community partners to the new center. The event attracted over 70 guests for an evening of student performances, community exhibit debuts, never-before-seen cultural artwork and a ribbon cutting ceremony.
Photos from the event can be viewed via the UCI Libraries Flickr in addition to some of the highlights below.
"The UCI Libraries are honored to open a new space that is optimized for instruction, outreach, programming, and research on our remarkable region, changing demographics of Orange County, and the Southeast Asian American experience in the region," says Lorelei Tanji, University Librarian.
Located facing UCI's Aldrich Park, on the first floor of the Libraries Gateway Study Center, the new center will house the circulating and reference materials from the UCI Libraries current Southeast Asian Archive. The center will also be home to a growing collection of regional history resources. Archival and rare materials related to the center will remain in Special Collections & Archives located on the fifth floor of UCI's Langson Library.
"The new OC & SEAA Center offers research resources and expanded engagement opportunities for student and local community groups," states Dr. Thuy Vo Dang, Archivist for the Southeast Asian Archive & Regional History.
A unifying theme of the center is diversity. The OC & SEAA Center will provide a collaborative space with services and resources to guide users seeking to document and study the history of the Orange County area and its demographics.
"As UCI celebrates its 50th year, and we move forward as a major educational institution, creating spaces like the OC & SEAA Center on campus, is vital towards our leaders, students and community members joining forces to advance diversity scholarship and communications," states Prany Sananikone, UCI Director of Diversity Relations.
Researchers come to the UCI Libraries seeking historical information on events, groups and individuals, as well as tools for creating new sources of information. The new center seeks to become an incubator for digital scholarship, data analysis, digital humanities, video and oral histories, and other interdisciplinary projects based on the region.
"As a proud community partner and supporter, we look forward to embracing the new center as a place to discover the rich history of the region and to study Orange County's changing demographics, so that we can serve as better stewards of diversity in the community," says Jack Toan, UC Irvine Alumni Association Board Member and Vice President at Wells Fargo.
Private media and community tours are available upon request. The OC & SEAA Center is open Monday through Friday from 1:00-5:00 pm. For more information, visit http://ocseaa.lib.uci.edu/ or contact Thuy Vo Dang Ph.D., Archivist for the Southeast Asian Archive & Regional History at 949-824-4968 or tvodang@uci.edu.