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Guide to the Frank Chin Papers
Wyles, MSS 103
Wyles, MSS 103
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Table of contents
Title: Frank Chin Papers
Identifier/Call Number: Wyles, MSS 103
Contributing Institution:
University of California, Santa Barbara, Davidson Library, Department of Special Collections, California Ethnic and Multicultural
Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
68.0 linear feet
121 document boxes; including 1 oversize container
Date (inclusive): 1940-2011
Frank Chin is a UCSB graduate (1965) and is widely recognized as the most influential Asian American dramatist and writer
(novels, short stories, essays) in the country. He is one of a handful of top literary figures in Asian American literary
and cultural communities, and he is distinguished as being the first Asian American playwright produced in New York City.
He founded the Asian American Theater Workshop in San Francisco which later evolved into the Asian American Theater Company
(AATC). In discussing the value of the papers, Chin remarked, "I hope that my collection of research, letters and experimental
manuscripts will stimulate a more traditional study of Asian American literature, beginning with an introduction to the Asian
children's stories shared by China, Korea, and Japan since pre-historic times, and the "vernacular novels" developed to spread
Chinese heroic tradition of the Ming, as a conscious expression of the myth of civilization throughout Asia.” “By making my
papers available to the public, I hope that my efforts to treat knowledge of Asia and America as equally important will be
seen and used.”
Born February 25, 1940, Frank Chin describes himself as a fifth generation Chinaman. His great-grandfather helped build the
Southern Pacific Railroad and his grandmother was a steward. He worked as a brakeman for the line before he began writing.
Frank Chin’s work broke new ground in the exploration of Chinese and Chinese American mythology, iconography and cultural
misconception. At a time when most writers and scholars were merely examining the way that Chinese Americans experienced stereotypes,
Frank Chin was confronting and destroying the perceived foundations from which those stereotypes evolved. In 1975 Frank Chin
described his efforts as an activist for Chinese-American identity to Stanley Eichelbaum for the San Francisco Examiner, to
fight what he described as “anti-yellow, love-em to death and extinction racism”, which he believed was still widely practiced
here in the United States. “Not Chink-hating racism but a more subtle form that deprives us of identity and locks up our seven
generations of history and culture in America.”
Growing up in Oakland California, Chin attended UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara and joined the Program in Creative Writing
at the University of Iowa. He is both prolific and varied in his output, having produced documentaries, written novels, short
stories, comic books, essays, plays and Hollywood scripts, as well as teaching classes in Asian American literature. Chin
co-edited one of the marquee Asian American Anthologies entitled
Aiiieeeee!, published in 1974, and a second volume entitled,
The Big Aiiieeeee!, published in 1991. Among Frank Chin’s many contributions to Asian American literature and Asian American literature studies,
is his tireless effort to fight against the emasculation of the Asian and Asian American male identity. In a letter to Margaret
Chew for her term paper for Holy Family Academy, Chin clearly defines his views on his own writing and his views on cultural
identity.
“My ideas on Asian America aren’t radical. What makes my ideas seem radical is that they are no longer popular. Whites wiped
out the Chinese truth about China. The radical new idea is the current popular one about Chinese culture being passive, humble,
docile, non assertive. That’s all bullshit. In schematic, here’s the old, the traditional, the classical vision of Chinese
America.”
Chin believed, and continues to believe, that the cultural identities of the “Confucian” Chinese man or the serene and peaceful
“oriental mind” are externally produced stereotypes, first introduced by white observers as a way to further dehumanize that
which they could not understand. Because of his efforts, he has been criticized by many scholars as being misogynistic or
homophobic, claims which Chin has boldly and outspokenly confronted in many of his writings, earning him notoriety and grudging
respect. In Gunga Din Highway (1994), Chin articulates a visionary rejection of centuries of Chinese emasculation through
stereotype, by presenting protagonists who identify with the warrior spirit of legendary Chinese figures such as Kwan Kung.
It is no small sign of his prescience that his ideas are becoming more widely accepted in the modern American popular culture.
Conditions Governing Access note
none
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or
quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given
on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
Acquired from Frank Chin, 2003 and 2009, with periodic updates
Collection processed by Michelle Wilder with Alexander Hauschild June 2007; and Callie Bowdish and Paola Novo, February and
March 2009, updates and converison to EAD format by Callie Bowdish and Janet Chen in 2012
The Frank Chin Papers contain personal and professional materials of Chins' from 1940-2001. The collection is divided into
four series spanning 112 archival boxes. The bulk of the collection consists of Chin’s manuscripts, including essays, articles,
novels, scripts (film and theater) and notes. Also included are several correspondence files relating to Chin’s personal life
and professional projects as well as extensive correspondence with other notable contemporary writers (including but not limited
to Maxine Hong Kingston, James “Jimmie” Omura, Michi Weglyn, Mei Berssenbrugge). The second largest component of the collection
are the subject files, which includes numerous folders relating to specific individuals, historical events and subjects. Altogether,
the collection provides critical insight into Chin’s creative, personal and professional life as a contemporary Chinaman author
and playwright. (It is important to note that Frank Chin refers to himself as a Chinaman, not a Chinese American, though he
was born in America of Chinese decent.)
Series I: Biographical Information, 1940-1998 (Box 1). This series consists of a wide variety of primary resources, including
Chin’s baby book, astrological chart, awards and certificates, articles and interviews. The material in this series is arranged
chronologically, then alphabetically within years; material with no date (n.d.) is placed at the end of the chronological
order.
Series II: Correspondence, 1950-2000 (Boxes 2-10). This series is divided into sub series as follows: Incoming correspondence
by Subject includes family, personal and professional correspondence arranged alphabetically by the name of the subject. These
subjects were indicated by Chin or are based on the preponderance of material in each folder. Incoming Correspondence Alpha
Series contains correspondence arranged by Chin under alphabetical headings where the preponderance of material is not from
one writer. Incoming Correspondence, Chronological covers miscellaneous correspondence collected from specific periods of
time by Frank Chin. This sub series is maintained in its original format, (individual folders covering overlapping bulk dates)
to reflect that these letters were grouped together by Chin. Outgoing Correspondence includes family, personal and professional
correspondence; Dorothea Oppenheimer, author’s representative (incoming & outgoing) contains incoming and outgoing correspondence
with Dorothea Oppenheimer, Chin’s agent from 1970-1980.
Series III: Manuscripts, 1958-1998 (Boxes 10-40). This series is the largest in the collection. Contained herein are essays,
short stories, novels, scripts (for film and theater) as well as notes in various forms, including published versions and
early and final drafts. There are two important notes about this series: (1) Frank Chin was in the habit of starting correspondence
to someone (friend, relative, acquaintance, professional contact, etc.) and then turning the correspondence into a writing
project (such as a script or an essay) therefore those folders which indicate correspondence in this series actually contain
partial correspondence and partial manuscript work in the same document; (2) due to the extensive breadth of Chin’s writing
this series has not been sub divided into published and unpublished work for various reasons (including but not limited to
chapter titles changing, printed excerpts of previously unpublished work that has since been published, titles of articles
and essays differing where content is the same or visa versa) and has therefore been arranged here in one alphabetical order,
arranged chronologically where titles are the same.
Series IV: Subject Files, (1899-2000) 1941-2001 (Boxes 41-116). This series is divided into six sub series as follows: Combined
Asian American Resources Project contains a considerable number of interview transcripts as well as a project summary and
a few administrative files such as correspondence with and grants to the National Endowment for the Humanities; Media has
been divided into groups based on the type of media or the individual being represented; Omura, James “Jimmie” contains; Weglyn,
Michi contains personal and professional correspondence between Chin and Weglyn relating to a particular projects on which
either author was working as well as files related to the Day of Remembrance Tribute to Michi Weglyn (see also sub series
World War II…, sub group Day of Remembrance); World War II & Japanese Internment in the U.S. has been divided into eight groups
based upon available materials (note: the sub group Born in the USA: Japanese America 1889-1947 (formerly Return of the Fair
Play Committee) were the original research files for the documentary Return of the Fair Play Committee, a project with which
Chin was involved until the project was halted. Subsequently, Chin used the research to write the book
Born in the USA); Miscellany contains files whose topics cannot be categorized in the aforementioned groups. All of the sub series and sub
groups are arranged alphabetically by title and chronologically within the same dates.
The following items have been catalogued separately and are available by searching the UCSB library online catalog: Davis,
Clyde, Brion,
The Great American Novel, New York, Toronto, Farrar & Rinehart, inc, 1938. Mori, Toshio,
The Chauvinist and Other Stories, introduction by Hisaye Yamamoto, Los Angeles, Asian American Studies Center, University of California, c1979
Pacific Citizen, Vol. 83 No. 26; Vol. 85 No. 26; Vol. 87 No. 2007, 2015, 2023-2024; Vol. 88, No. 2025-2026, 2028, 2034, 2038, 2040-2042,
2044-2045, 2047-2048; Vol. 89 No. 2065, Vol. 90 No. 2091, 2095-2096, 1976-1980