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Finding Aid for the Rose Hum Lee papers, 1940-1964
1002
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Description
Rose Hum Lee was the first woman and the first Chinese American to head an academic department of an American university when
she was appointed in 1956 to chair the Sociology Department at Roosevelt University in Chicago. The bulk of the collection
is made up of correspondence written by Rose Hum Lee to her daughter, Elaine Lee. These letters and other documents were collected
by Elaine Lee, who kept her mother's letters to her, as well as copies of letters Rose Hum Lee wrote to others and then forwarded
to Elaine. The rest of the collections is comprised of transcribed telephone conversations; research on the Chinese in the
United States; published and unpublished materials; biographical materials; and related materials. Included in the collection
are also the personal papers of Elaine Lee and Henry Evans pertaining to Rose Hum Lee. Materials in the collection are in
English except for one item and some occasional markings on the margins of Lee's research data.
Background
Rose Hum Lee (Lee was her married name) was born Hum Kim Mei on August 20, 1904 in Butte, Montana. She was the second eldest
in a family of four girls and three boys. Her father, Hum Wah Long, emigrated from Guangdong, China in the 1870s. From California
to Montana, he worked as a manual laborer and he eventually became a successful merchant and landowner in Butte. Lee's mother,
Chiu Lin Fong, arrived in the United States in 1900 and met her husband for the first time when she stepped onto the port
of Portland, Oregon.
Extent
3 boxes (1.5 lin. ft.)
Restrictions
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library,
Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of
the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC
Regents do not hold the copyright.
Availability
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.