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Guide to the Mitchell I. Bonner Photographs and Ephemera
MS.SEA.006
MS.SEA.006
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Table of contents
Title: Mitchell I. Bonner photographs and ephemera
Identifier/Call Number: MS.SEA.006
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine Libraries
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
4.3 Linear feet
(10 boxes), 275 digitized images, and 3.1 unprocessed linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1975-2002
Abstract: This collection comprises approximately 3,000 photographs and slides taken by Mitchell Bonner between 1975 and 2001, as well
as printed ephemera collected by him through 2012. The images document Iu Mien, Lao, Khmer, Vietnamese, and Cambodian community
social and cultural events throughout Northern California, primarily the San Francisco Bay area. The emphasis is on Laotian
American communities. The ephemera includes programs, posters and flyers from cultural, religious, and popular culture events,
refugee publications, pamphlets and brochures from refugee assistance agencies, and other materials related to social services,
education, and refugees. The collection also includes a small amount of material documenting other Asian American communities
in California, including Burmese, Thai, Filipino, and Tibetan.
Creator:
Bonner, Mitchell I.
Selected digitized images from this collection.
Collection open for research.
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and
their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Head of Special Collections and University Archives.
Mitchell I. Bonner photographs and ephemera. MS-SEA006. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine,
California.
Gifts of Mitchell I. Bonner, 1997-2012.
Processed by Karen Rosen, 2002.
Mitchell I. Bonner has been active in the San Francisco Bay area's Southeast Asian American communities since 1975, when the
first Lao and Hmong refugees moved to the area. Over the years Bonner has documented both daily life and special community
events, through photographing private and public activities in the Southeast Asian community. His photographs include images
dating from a 1975 Christmas party for Vietnamese refugees at San Francisco's International Student Center, to a 2000 Laos
New Year's celebration in Richmond, California.
Bonner has traveled to Laos four times, and has helped to organize various Laotian festivals and dances. He was a volunteer
with the International Student Center in San Francisco until it closed at the end of 1976. Many Vietnamese refugee students
used the center, which offered inexpensive cultural and recreational activities and a dining room for international students
at San Francisco colleges and universities. It was there that Bonner met a Lao-Vietnamese man, who introduced him to the arriving
Lao and Hmong refugees being settled into San Francisco. Bonner was also introduced to Southeast Asian refugees in the San
Francisco neighborhood where he lived, which was the original receiving neighborhood in that city for Southeast Asian refugees.
Bonner owns a personal Southeast Asia collection of over 3,000 items on Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, including books,
audio and video recordings, documents and maps, and handicraft items.
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection comprises approximately 3,000 photographs and slides taken by Mitchell Bonner between 1975 and 2001, as well
as printed ephemera collected by him through 2012. The images document Iu Mien, Lao, Khmer, Vietnamese, and Cambodian community
social and cultural events throughout Northern California, primarily the San Francisco Bay area. The emphasis is on Laotian
American communities. The ephemera includes programs, posters and flyers from cultural, religious, and popular culture events,
refugee publications, pamphlets and brochures from refugee assistance agencies, and other materials related to social services,
education, and refugees. The collection also includes a small amount of material documenting other Asian American communities
in California, including Burmese, Thai, Filipino, and Tibetan.
This collection is arranged into 2 series:
- Series 1. Visual materials, 1975-2001. 2 linear ft.
- Series 2. Printed ephemera, 1976-2002. 2 linear ft.
This collection is supplemented by materials in the Southeast Asian American Vertical File (MS-SEA020), Southeast Asian Archive,
UC Irvine Libraries.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Online Archive of California.
Ephemera -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- 20th century.
Fliers (Printed matter) -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- 20th century.
Laotian Americans - -California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- Social life and customs -- Archives.
Laotian Americans -- California - -San Francisco Bay Area -- Archives.
Laotian Americans -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- Photographs.
Laotian Americans -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- Social life and customs -- Photographs.
Laotian Americans -- Northwest, Pacific -- Archives.
Laotian Americans -- Northwest, Pacific -- Photographs.
Photographic prints -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- 20th century.
Posters -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- 20th century.
Programs -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- 20th century.
Refugees -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- Archives.
Refugees -- Southeast Asia -- Archives.
San Francisco Bay Area (Calif.) -- Social life and customs -- Archives.
Southeast Asians -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- Archives.
Southeast Asians -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- Photographs.
Southeast Asians -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- Social life and customs -- Archives.
Southeast Asians -- Northwest, Pacific -- Archives.
Southeast Asians -- Northwest, Pacific -- Photographs.