Collection Guide
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Chinese American Citizens Alliance (CACA) records
M2078
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Chinese American Citizens Alliance (CACA) records
Creator:
Chinese American Citizens Alliance
Identifier/Call Number: M2078
Identifier/Call Number: 19431
Physical Description:
184 Linear Feet
(348 boxes, 27 flat-boxes, 2 card-boxes, 1 half-box)
Date (inclusive): 1907-2007, 2015
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.
Language of Material: Internal documents are predominantly in Chinese until around 1963, when they become mostly English. Correspondence with non-Chinese
organizations and individuals is in English.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance, 2017. Accession 2017-325
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.
[identification of item], Chinese American Citizens Alliance records (M2078). Department of Special Collections and University
Archives, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, California.
The Huntington Library houses the papers of Kenneth Y. Fung, the SooHoo family, and the Hong family, who had close ties to
the Chinese American Citizens Alliance.
Rice University holds a small (5 boxes) collection of materials related to the CACA in Houston.
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.
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.
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.
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
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Chinese Americans.
Immigrants -- Civil rights -- United States
Citizenship -- United States -- History
Nonprofit organizations