Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Cambria Collection2018.M.1.Bentz
2018.M.1.Bentz
No online items
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Chinese Historical Society of Southern California
Title: Cambria Collection
Creator:
Bentz, Linda
Creator:
Greenwood, Roberta S.
Creator:
Slawson, Dana N.
source:
Chung, Sue Fawn
source:
Chace, Paul G.
source:
Chinese Historical Society of Southern California
Identifier/Call Number: 2018.M.1.Bentz
Physical Description:
0.58 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): 1870-2001
Abstract: The Cambria Collection is a research project conducted by Roberta S. Greenwood, Dana N. Slawson, and Linda Bentz on the Chinese
population in Cambria, San Luis Obispo County, California. Most of the research focuses on the Chinese Center, namely the
Red House, where the Chinese residents of Cambria would gather for social events. An adjoined room to the Red House is also
believed to have functioned as a Chinese temple. The collection is arranged at the Box-Level and Folder-Level. Materials include
oral history transcripts, correspondences, photographs and maps, newspaper articles, census data, research papers and deed
and tax information pertaining to the Chinese population of Cambria and the Red House, circa 1870-2001. The Cambria Collection
is significant to the CHSSC not only because it was conducted by the Society's Archives Chair Linda Bentz, but also because
it provides information pertaining to a Chinese American population within California. The collection offers historical, archeological,
and cultural insight to the Chinese American community of Cambria and their ways of life, interactions, economies, and religious
practices. Additionally, as the last surviving physical evidence of the Chinese Center in Cambria, the preservation of information
about the Red House is of great importance.
Language of Material:
English
.
Container: 1
Container: 1-6
Container: 2
Container: 1-3
Container: 3
Container: 1
Collection is arranged at the Series-Level. It is separated into eleven (11) series: Research Papers; Book Chapters; Photographs;
Maps; Notes; Correspondence; Oral Histories; Newspapers; Reports; Deeds, Tax and Tenant Information; and Primary Sources.
SERIES I: Research Papers, 1966-1999, undated
Box 1: 1992, undated
Folder 2: undated
Folder 3: 1992, undated
Folder 5: undated
Box 2: 1966, 1999
Folder 2: 1966, 1999
SERIES II: Book Chapters, 1986, undated
Box 1: 1986, undated
Folder 3: 1986, undated
SERIES III: Photographs, 1895-2001, undated
Box 1: undated
Folder 6: undated
Box 2: 2001, undated
Folder 1: 2001, undated
Big pictures (no box): 1895, 1906, undated
SERIES IV: Maps, 1874–1959, undated
Box 1: 1874-1959, undated
Folder 1: undated
Folder 6: 1874-1959
SERIES V: Notes, 2001, undated
Box 1: 2001, undated
Folder 5: 2001, undated,
Box 2: 2001, undated
Folder 3: 2001, undated
SERIES VI: Correspondence, 1990-2001
Box 1: 1990-2001
Folder 4: 1990-2001
Folder 1: 2000
SERIES VII: Oral Histories, 2000-2001
Box 1: 2000-2001
Folder 1: 2000-2001
SERIES VIII: Newspapers, 1899-1994, undated
Box 1: 1899-1994, undated
Folder 3: 1899-1994, undated
SERIES IX: Reports, 1993-2001, undated
Box 2: 1993-2001, undated
Folder 2: 1993-2001, undated
Folder 3: undated
SERIES X: Deeds, Tax, and Tenant Information, 1870-2001
Box 2: 1870-2001
Folder 2: 2000
Folder 3: 1870-2001
SERIES XI: Primary sources, 1870-1992, undated
Box 1: 1870-1992, undated
Folder 3: 1968, 1992
Folder 5: 1870-1910
This collection is open to researchers and to the public for access. Please contact the Chinese Historical Society of Southern
California for more information.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Received as a donation from Linda Bentz on January 9, 2018.
[Item], Cambria Collection, Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.
Following the completion of the research project conducted by Roberta S. Greenwood, Dana N. Slawson, and Linda Bentz on the
Red House of Cambria, California, Linda Bentz donated their reports, research, correspondences, and other resources used to
the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California. The Cambria Collection was processed by archivist interns Taylor Burnett
and Daisy Cabot as a part of CHSSC's ongoing mission to preserve resources on Chinese Americans and to make them accessible
to the public. The boxes and folders retained their original labels. The original folders were already labeled via the creator,
and the names given to the folders were included and listed as files within the series. Burnett and Cabot numbered each folder
for the purpose of maintaining original order and locating files. Additional oversized photographs were placed into a clear
sleeve for preservation. Although Oral Histories is its own series, the Oral Histories folder appears in several series in
order to follow the consistency of the collection. The Oral Histories folder is listed under the Maps series because three
copies of floor plans are located in the Oral Histories folder. Similarly, The Oral Histories folder is listed under the Correspondence
series because the third of three pages of a letter from Wayne Attoe is in Oral Histories, while the first two pages can be
found in the Correspondence folder. These pages remain in the Oral Histories folder to maintain the integrity of the collection
and how it was donated.
The Cambria Collection is arranged at the Series Level. The collection primarily consists of paper documents, including: research
papers and notes, letters and emails of correspondence, census data, newspaper articles, deed and tax information pertaining
to the Red House, and oral history transcripts. Also included are photographs and maps in both color and black and white of
the Red House and the city of Cambria.
The Cambria Collection was donated by Linda Bentz. Bentz completed her undergraduate degree at the University of California
Los Angeles, and went on to obtain her Masters in Anthropology at San Diego State University. In addition to her research
on the Chinese population of Cambria, Bentz's research interests include Chinese fishermen and Chinese American women. Her
essays have been published in various books, newsletters, and journals, and she recently co-authored the book Hidden Lives:
A Century of Chinese American History in Ventura County with William Gow, which explores the Chinese communities of Ventura
County. Bentz is the Archives Chair at the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California.1
1. "Board of Directors and Staff - CHSSC," Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, n.d., https://chssc.org/board-of-directors-and-staff/.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Correspondence
Electronic Mail Messages
Letters
Newspapers- sections, columns, etc.- Front pages
Maps
Property
Photographs
Pamphlets
Oral history transcript
Cambria (Calif.)
Temples, Chinese
San Luis Obispo County (Calif.)
Deeds
Warren, Forrest G.
Warren, Geri
Soto, Margaret
Soto, Lillia
Chung, Sue Fawn
Chace, Paul G.
Chinese Historical Society of Southern California