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Survey of Race Relations records
61003
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Table of contents
Title: Survey of Race Relations records
Date (inclusive): 1905-1934
Collection Number: 61003
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
38 manuscript boxes
(15.2 Linear Feet)
Abstract: An anthropological investigative project sponsored by various private organizations, the Survey of Race Relations records
include a report, correspondence, interview transcripts, questionnaires, and printed matter relating to the social and economic
status of Chinese, Japanese, other Asian, Mexican, and other minority residents of the Pacific Coast of the United States
and Canada, and to race relations on the Pacific Coast.
Creator:
Survey of Race Relations
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1961.
[Identification of item], Survey of Race Relations records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Digital copies of materials are available online through the Stanford Digital Repository; links to box contents can be found
throughout the finding aid.
In the early 1920s, a group of scholars set out to make an investigation of economic, religious, educational, civic, biological,
and social conditions among Chinese, Japanese, and other non-European residents of the Pacific Coast of the United States
and Canada. Extension of the study into northern Mexico and Hawaii was contemplated as well. The Survey had its administrative
and research headquarters at Stanford University under the chairmanship of President Ray Lyman Wilbur and was under the research
directorship first of Stanford professor Eliot G. Mears and subsequently of the Chicago sociologist, Robert E. Park. The Survey
received important financial support and collaboration from the Institute of Social and Religious Research.
In the words of Mears, Executive Secretary, "The Survey seeks to impose no program, advocates no specific policy, and champions
no special interest. It aims to find the facts, and all the facts, and plans to make them accessible to the public." The findings
were to be published in a series of volumes edited by Dr. Park.
After only one publication ("Tentative Findings of the Survey of Race Relations," edited by Mears), the Survey ran out of
money, and research was discontinued.
Later, Mears wrote a book based on the work of the Survey entitled,
Resident Orientals on the American Pacific Coast: Their Legal and Economic Status, 1928.
Scope and Content of Collection
Completed life-history questionnaires comprise the greatest bulk and are the "raw data" of the collection. In addition, there
are numerous open-ended personal reflections, financial records, conference reports, meeting notes, bibliographies, printed
materials and miscellaneous other findings of the Survey. The original manuscript of Mears' book
Resident Orientals on the American Pacific Coast: Their Legal and Economic Status is also included in the collection.
The following items are missing documents from the original accession; the items would have been a part of the Minor Documents
series: 1 (items #53-54 out of the 102 interviews in that folder 1), 4-9, 11, 13-17, 19-21, 23, 25-30, 32-36, 39, 49-50, 67-74,
81, 83, 85, 89-90, 92, 94-100, 102-105, 107-118, 120-122, 125-130, 132-145, 147-148, 150-151, 153-161, 163, 166-172, 174-175,
178, 184-186, 195-249, 257-260, 263, 268, 274, 294-312.
The classification titles and codes of the documents as established by the Survey of Race Relations can be found below under
File Plan.
File Plan: Classification Titles
Classification titles and codes of the documents as established by the Survey of Race Relations
I. Americanization: Am
a) Second generation (2nd Gen)
b) Family problems (F. P.)
c) Accommodation (Accom.)
d) Vocational problems (Voc.)
e) Education (Ed.)
f) Naturalization (Nat.)
II. Communities: Com.
a) Organization of (Org.)
b) Activities
c) Standards of living (S. L.)
III. Competition and Land: Comp.
a) Agriculture (Agric.)
b) Land ownership (Land Own.)
c) Labor
d) Cropping contract (C. C.)
e) Business (Bus.)
f) Employment contract (Employ. C.)
IV. Good-Will: G. W.
a) Religious activities (Relig.)
b) Friendship
V. Heritages: Her.
a) Oriental/Asiatic (O.)
b) Chinese (C.)
c) Japanese (J.)
d) East Indian (E. I.)
e) Filipino (F.)
f) Mexican (M.)
g) Korean (K.)
h) Hindu (H.)
i) Tongs
VI. Intermarriage: Int.
a) Eurasian child
VII. Investigations: Inv.
a) Statistics (Stat.)
b) Legislation (Legis.)
c) Historical (Hist.)
VIII. Life Histories: L. H.
a) Oriental/Asiatic (O.)
b) Chinese (C.)
c) Japanese (J.)
d) East Indian (E. I.)
e) Filipino (F.)
f) Mexican (M.)
g) Korean (K.)
h) Hindu (H.)
i) Tongs
IX. Population: Pop.
a) Immigration (Im.)
b) Vital statistics
c) Distribution
d) Movement (Mvt.)
X. Race Consciousness: R. C.
a) Conflict
b) Prejudice (Prej.)
c) Discrimination
d) Public opinion (Pub. Op.)
e) Political tension (P. T.)
XI. Racial Traits: R. T.
a) Oriental/Asiatic (O.)
b) Chinese (C.)
c) Japanese (J.)
d) East Indian (E. I.)
e) Filipino (F.)
f) Mexican (M.)
g) Korean (K.)
h) Hindu (H.)
i) Tongs
j) American (A.)
XII. Social Disorganization: S. D.
a) Vice and crime (V. C.)
b) Poverty
c) Disease
d) Prostitution (Prost.)
e) Gambling
f) Delinquency
XIII. Other
a) Organization (Organiz.)
b) Illegal entry (Ill. Entry)
c) Industry (Ind.)
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Chinese Americans
Asian Americans
Japanese Americans
Minorities -- United States
United States -- Race relations
Asians -- Canada
Mexican Americans
Minorities -- Canada
Canada -- Race relations