Historical background
Biographical note
Scope and Content
Conditions Governing Access
Conditions Governing Use
Rights Statement for Archival Description
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
Preferred Citation
Processing Information
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries East Asian Library
Title: Irvin Paik papers
Creator:
Paik, Irvin, 1940-
Identifier/Call Number: 3035
Identifier/Call Number: /repositories/6/resources/1522
Physical Description:
1.56 Linear Feet
5 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1971-1975
Abstract: The Irvin Paik papers include correspondence, article typescripts, subject files, scripts, photographs, news clippings, slides,
and audiotapes created by television and film editor Irvin Paik during a period (early 1970s) when he was actively involved
in several organizations (East-West Players, Brotherhood of Artists, Japanese American Citizens League, Asian Americans for
Fair Media) centered around the effort to more fairly and accurately represent Asians in the media, to expand the opportunities
open to them in the movie and television industries. Paik also conducted research for several related projects.
Language of Material:
English.
Historical background
There was a broad-based effort during the 1960s-1970s to build the foundations of a multi-ethnic society in which mutual respect
between people of differing cultural backgrounds could meet on a level field and thereby be accorded more equal access to
opportunities of all sorts. In this effort, the importance of the images put forward of Asians and Asian Americans in the
mainstream media was recognized and found to be characterized by stereotypical appearances, demeanors, accents and social
roles.
The East-West Players, "the nation's premier Asian American theatre," was founded in 1965 in order to provide opportunities
for Asian American actors to break out of the stereotypes so common to that point. Their first performances were presented
in the basement of a church at the corner of Lucille Avenue and Griffith Park Blvd., in Los Angeles, from which they moved
in 1973 to a 99-seat theater on Santa Monica Blvd. In 1998, the company moved to its current housing, in the David Henry Hwang
Theater, in Little Tokyo.
Early in 1970, a group of Asian Americans intent on mobilizing for greater opportunities in the stage, film and television
industry, met to organize themselves. At their first meeting, they adopted the name "Ethnic," but voted to change to the "Brotherhood
of Artists." The organization appears to have lasted only until late 1972.
The Chinese Media Committee is an affiliated organization of Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), a group founded in San
Francisco in 1969 for the purpose of advocating for improved job opportunities for Chinese Americans.
The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), founded in 1929, is the oldest and largest Asian American civil rights organization
in the United States. It is a national organization whose ongoing mission is to secure and maintain the civil rights of Japanese
Americans and all others who are victimized by injustice and bigotry.
Asian Americans for Fair Media, Inc. (AAFM) was founded in 1973 by a group of Nisei, led by George Yuzawa, to monitor local
and national broadcasts and print media for negative Asian stereotypes and racial slurs.
Biographical note
Irvin Paik was born in Bakersfield in 1940, the youngest of six children--and the only son--of Meung Sun Paik and Rose Park,
both of whom came from large immigrant families. The Paiks and Parks were both farming families, in Oregon, Idaho, Utah and
California. Irvin was born as his parents were in the process of moving to Los Angeles, which by then had the largest concentration
of Koreans in North America. Growing up in postwar Los Angeles, in the midst of a close community and with almost twenty uncles
and aunts and dozens of cousins, Irvin had open to him a greater range of opportunities than had most Koreans prior to World
War II. In high school, he became interested in drama and photography, and continued to pursue those interests at UCLA. In
his effort to foster an acting career, Paik confronted the problems of Asian stereotypes and limited opportunities for Asian
American actors. He joined several organizations (East West Players, Brotherhood of Artists, Japanese American Citizens League,
etc.) and became an active advocate, as reflected in this collection.
He enlisted in the Army to avoid the draft and enrolled in a unit of college graduates resulting in a 2nd Lieutenant commission
in the artillery. Paik was assigned to the Field Photographic Unit of the Army Pictorial Center, where he was able to develop
technical skills that he later used to gain entry into the Producer Training Plan, which was established to provide more equal
access to men and women of diverse backgrounds by training them for careers in the motion picture and television industry.
This led to a successful career as a film editor, in movies and, more particularly, television.
Aside from his early activism and career as a film editor, Paik has been an active member of the Korean American Pioneer Council
(KAPC), originally formed as a support group for the Korean American Museum, in Los Angeles, but with the specific mission
to gather and preserve the history of the First Wave of Koreans in America. He has been most prominently involved in the KAPC's
oral history program, for which he has served as cameraman and, very often, as interviewer. Irvin himself was interviewed
for that series in 2012, during the course of which the existence of this collection came to light.
Scope and Content
This collection documents a period of Irvin Paik's life, roughly 1970-1974, during which he was active in the campaign to
improve opportunities for Asian Americans in the movie, television and theater business, on the one hand, and to push for
more accurate and rounded characterizations of Asians in the media. Contents include correspondence, article typescripts,
subject files, scripts, photographs, news clippings, slides, and audiotapes.
Conditions Governing Access
Check USC Digital Archive for online availability. Advance notice required for access to original items.
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head, East Asian Library.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of the East Asian Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Rights Statement for Archival Description
Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
Gift of Irvin Paik, 2012.
Preferred Citation
[Box/folder# or item name], Irvin Paik papers, Collection no. 3035, Korean American Digital Archive, Korean Heritage Library,
USC Libraries, University of Southern California
Processing Information
This collection is not fully processed.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Audiotapes
Slides (photographs)
Asian Americans in motion pictures -- Archival resources
Correspondence
Asian Americans in the motion picture industry -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archival resources
Clippings (information artifacts)
Scripts
Photographs
Sound recordings
Asian Americans on television -- Archival resources
Takei, George, 1937- -- Archives
Quo, Beulah, 1923-2002 -- Archives
Dhiegh, Khigh -- Archives
East West Players (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Archives
Japanese American Citizens' League -- Archives
Chinese for Affirmative Action (Organization) -- Archives
Chinese Media Committee (San Francisco, Calif.) -- Archives
Paik, Irvin, 1940- -- Archives
Morita, Pat, 1932-2005 -- Archives
Kwan, Nancy, 1939- -- Archives
Brotherhood of Artists (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Archives
Mako -- Archives