Chinese American Citizens Alliance (CACA) records, 1907-2007, 2015

View only results with digital items
Printable guide [HTML]
Request items

Summary

Creators:
Chinese American Citizens Alliance
Abstract:
The Chinese American Citizens Alliance is a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. The organization began in 1895 as the fraternal order of the Native Sons of the Golden State, and by 1920 had a number of lodges nationally and was headquartered in San Francisco. The organization's mission is to work for equal rights for Americans of Chinese ancestry.
Extent:
184 Linear Feet (348 boxes, 27 flat-boxes, 2 card-boxes, 1 half-box)
Language:
English and Internal documents are predominantly in Chinese until around 1963, when they become mostly English. Correspondence with non-Chinese organizations and individuals is in English.
Preferred citation:

[identification of item], Chinese American Citizens Alliance records (M2078). Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, California.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection comes from the CACA's Grand Lodge archives in San Francisco, and contains material primarily generated from the activities of the Grand and San Francisco Lodges, covering membership records, meeting minutes, correspondence, financial records covering member fee payments, investments, and insurance/death benefit fund among others, convention files, political and legislative action, charter applications, and immigration files. Also included are a number of collected publications and clippings, documents related to the organization's work in the local Chinese community, as well as records for the management of the Chinese Times Publishing Company, which produced the Chinese-language American newspaper, The Chinese Times.

Biographical / historical:

The Chinese American Citizens Alliance (C.A.C.A.) is a fraternal beneficiary society originally incorporated in San Francisco by Chun Dick in 1895 and reorganized in 1904 under the original charter by a group of young Chinese American men under the name of Native Sons of the Golden State to improve public welfare and assimilation in their communities and dedicated to securing civil rights. In 1912, branch Parlors began to be established throughout California. The Chinese American Citizens Alliance was originally created as a separate organization to encompass non-California regions, though the two shared a common governing board. In 1915, the NSGS and CACA legally became one under the latter name to better align with the members' aspirations and increasingly national origin. This organization is still headquartered in San Francisco, and consists of 20 local lodges located throughout the continental US.

In addition to lobbying for Chinese-American civil rights, the CACA also hosts social and community events, and supports and sponsors educational activities and scholarships and building construction in its communities.

Acquisition information:
Gift of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance, 2017. Accession 2017-325
Arrangement:

These records were organized by a group of volunteers from the CACA prior to their arrival at Stanford, mostly involving putting files and documents into folders and assigning them a number for the purposes of making a preliminary inventory list. These folder contents have mostly been retained, and further arranged into the following categories with some overlap throughout: 1) Administrative Files 2) Correspondence 3) Financial records 4) Death benefit fund 5) Conventions and conference materials 6)Political and legislative records 7) Legal records 8) Chinese Times 9) Periodicals, publications, and clippings 10) Community engagement and ephemera

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research with the exception of Series 1 Subseries 7, Series 3 Subseries 7, Series 5 Subseries 4, Series 8 Subseries 4, and Series 10 Subseries 5 which contain later personal and financial information ; these files are restricted until 2075. Materials must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.

Terms of access:

While Special Collections is the owner of the physical and digital items, permission to examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns.

Preferred citation:

[identification of item], Chinese American Citizens Alliance records (M2078). Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, California.

Location of this collection:
Department of Special Collections, Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6004, US
Contact:
(650) 725-1022
specialcollections@stanford.edu
Website