Collection Guide
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Fort Chaffee Photographs of Vietnamese and Cambodian
Refugees
MS.SEA.025
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine
Libraries
Title: Fort Chaffee photographs of Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees
Creator:
Fort Chaffee (Ark.)
Identifier/Call Number: MS.SEA.025
Physical Description:
0.4 Linear Feet
(1 box) and 33 digitized images
Date (inclusive): 1975
Abstract: This collection is comprised of black
and white photographs and negatives taken of Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees living at
Fort Chaffee, a military base in Arkansas. The photographs document the daily life of the
refugees, including the arrival of refugees by plane and bus, a visit from President Gerald
Ford, refugee education and social activities.
Language of Material:
English .
Collection open for research.
Property rights reside with the University of California. These materials are in the public
domain. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Southeast Asian
Archive Librarian.
Fort Chaffee photographs of Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees. MS-SEA025. Southeast Asian
Archive, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California. Date accessed.
For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information
about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder
descriptions, and box/folder locations.
Gift of Fort Chaffee, 2003.
Alternative Forms of Material Available
A selection of thirty-three images from this collection has been digitized and is available
in the Online Archive of California.
Processed by Julia Stringfellow, 2005. Processing was supported by a National Endowment for
the Humanities (NEH) grant.
Fort Chaffee, a military base located in northwestern Arkansas, was a key military training
installation from the early days of World War II until its closing in September 1997.
Construction of the base began on September 9, 1941, with the first soldiers arriving on
December 7, 1941. The mission of the post was to train U.S. soldiers for combat in Europe,
America and the Pacific. Following WWII, Camp Chaffee became Fort Chaffee and continued to
train U.S. Army personnel in a variety of military specialties.
In the late 1970s Fort Chaffee was a temporary home to over 50,000 Vietnamese and Cambodian
refugees. From May 2 to December 20, 1975, these refugees came to Fort Chaffee to start
their new lives. This task was handled very successfully and as a result, within five years,
the post was called upon to help process more than 20,000 Cuban refugees.
On September 27, 1997, a change of command ceremony closed an era at Fort Chaffee. That day
official command and control of the installation passed from the U.S. Army to the Arkansas
Army National Guard when the U.S. Army Garrison was inactivated. The installation officially
became known as the Fort Chaffee Maneuver Training Center.
Collection Scope and Content Summary
This collection is comprised of black and white photographs and negatives taken of
Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees living at Fort Chaffee, a military base in Arkansas. The
photographs document the daily life of the refugees, including the arrival of refugees by
plane and bus, a visit from President Gerald Ford, refugee education and social
activities.
There are approximately 245 photographs of different sizes, and 35 millimeter negatives
strips account for ten percent of the photographs.
This collection is arranged topically.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Refugees -- Vietnam -- Photographs.
Refugees -- Cambodia -- Photographs.
Refugees -- Arkansas -- Fort Chaffee -- Photographs.
Fort Chaffee (Ark.).
Photographic prints -- Arkansas -- Fort Chaffee -- 20th
century.