Chen (Lily Lee) Papers, 1920-2024, bulk 1956-2002

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Summary

Title:
Lily Lee Chen papers
Dates:
1920-2024, bulk 1956-2002
Creators:
Chen, Lily, 1936-
Abstract:
Personal and professional papers of Lily Lee Chen, California politician and immigrant and women's rights activist; Chen is best known for her tenure and work as the first ever female Chinese American mayor in the United States when she became mayor of Monterey Park, California, in 1984.
Extent:
7.29 Linear Feet (18 boxes)
Language:
Materials are in Chinese and English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Lily Lee Chen papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection is comprised of personal and professional papers of Lily Chen that deal with her personal life and document her 50-year career of service to her community. The papers highlight her social work with Los Angeles County, her campaign for and tenure on the Monterey Park City Council and as Mayor, and her activities with the Democratic Party, and her activism. The collection contains correspondence, personal diaries and journals, education and employment documents, travel and immigration records, fliers, political campaign material, newspaper and magazine clippings, personal notes, speeches, ephemera, photographs, and photograph albums. The personal papers consist of correspondence by family members and friends, much of it coming from China; immigration papers for Chen family members; material about Chen's education and employment, her work with Voice of Free China, and her time in the United States attending the World Youth Social Welfare Conference in 1956; and a large subseries of personal photographs. There are also three published biographies of Lily Chen. Also included are correspondence and other writings by Paul Chen, his father Chieh Ching Chen, and Lily Chen's father Yaolin Li. The professional papers deal with Lily Chen's campaign for Monterey Park city council and mayorship; her work against a petition in Monterey Park to declare English the official language of the city; the push-back against the use of malathion in Medfly spraying in Los Angeles County in the 1980s; Chen's attendance at the Democratic National Convention in 1996 and 2000; her efforts to bring an Olympic event to Monterey Park during the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles; and the Red Cross relief work after the Taiwan earthquake in 1999. There is also material related to, and some material written by several California and national Democratic leaders such as Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, Walter F. Mondale, Tom Bradley, Gil Garcetti, Gray Davis, Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Al Glore, Jimmy Carter, Kenneth Hahn, Ed Edelman, Geraldine Ferraro, Gerald Ford, and Nancy Pelosi. There are also photographs of her with Ronald Reagan, George Deukmejian, and Michael Dukakis, as well as famous actors, prominent artists, performers, journalists, and broadcasters. There is also material related to Chen's work with other organizations such as the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Asian/Pacific Women's Network L.A., Pacific Council on International Policy, and the California Democratic Party Asian Pacific Caucus. Due to the nature of the collection, there is anti-Asian and anti-immigrant material that uses racist language and images.

Biographical / historical:

Lily Lee Chen was born in Tianjing, China, in May 1936. During the Chinese Communist Revolution in the late 1940s, she and her family relocated to Taiwan. Chen arrived in the United States in 1957, while representing the Republic of China at the International Youth Leadership Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. She first attended San Francisco State University but moved to the graduate school at the University of Washington after meeting and marrying Paul Chen (1930-2019) in 1960. Paul Chen was an engineering student who transferred to the University of Washington from University of California, Berkeley (he would go on and work for Boeing and Northrup Corporation). She obtained her master's degree in social work in 1964, and the family moved to Los Angeles County in 1968. Chen started working in the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services and went on to pioneer the county's earliest Asian American and Pacific Islander human services and outreach programs. Chen would serve more than 27 years at the County of Los Angeles, retiring in 1993 as administrator of the Department of Children and Family Services. Throughout her extensive career, Chen is best known for her tenure and work as the first female Chinese American mayor in the United States. In 1984, she became mayor of Monterey Park, California, at a time when well-educated and affluent Chinese and Taiwanese Americans continued to settle in the city and nearby areas. In 1985, she fought against the Monterey Park City Council's effort to approve a proposal that would require all businesses in the city to display English signs. Chen also lobbied successfully for Monterey Park to host the field hockey games during the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Throughout her political career, Chen was heavily involved in the Democratic National Committee and served on several presidential committees on Asian American and Pacific Islander and women's issues. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the National Council on Adult Education, making her the first Asian American and first person from the West Coast to serve on the council. In 1998, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright appointed Chen to the board of governors of the U.S. State Department's East-West Center. In 2016, President Barack Obama presented her with the Gold Award for Volunteer Services. Paul Chen died in 2019. The Chens have two children: Arthur (born 1961), and Helen (born 1962). In 2018, Dr. Chang C. Chen published the book Lily Lee Chen: the First Chinese American Woman Mayor.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Lily Lee Chen, September 2021. Boxes 17-18 were a gift of Helen Chen, December 2025.
Processing information:

Processed by Brooke M. Black in October 2025. In January 2026, she processed the new material that came in December 2025.

Arrangement:

Organized in two series: Series 1. Personal papers, 1920-2020; Series 2. Professional papers, 1956-2021. The original order was kept as much as possible.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Brooke M. Black
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-01-15 14:37:00 -0800 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Lily Lee Chen papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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