Re/Collecting Project Archive
Finding aid created by Special Collections and Archives staff using RecordEXPRESS
California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo. Special Collections and Archives
2020
Robert E. Kennedy Library, Rm 409
San Luis Obispo, California 93407
(805) 756-2305
archives@calpoly.edu
http://www.lib.calpoly.edu/specialcollections
Title: Re/Collecting Project Archive
Dates: circa 1919 - 2002, 2012 - 2014
Collection Number: MS0190
Creator/Collector:
Grace Yeh
Extent: 1 LF, 1 document box, 493 GB
Online items available
Repository:
California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo. Special Collections and Archives
San Luis Obispo, California 93407
Abstract: The Re/Collecting Project (Re/Co for short) is an "ethnic studies memory project of California's Central Coast." The project's
aim is to digitally capture and make publicly accessible the rich history of the diverse - yet under-documented - communities
of the region, which includes San Luis Obispo and northern Santa Barbara counties. To collect the materials that make up these
histories, the project would organize "Re/Collecting Days," and make house calls, where the project team would invite families
and individuals to recollect their stories as well as to participate in collecting their story materials (images, documents,
mementos) for digital preservation and access.
Language of Material: English
Collection is open to researchers by appointment. For more information on visiting, access policies, and reproduction requests,
please visit our Reference Services page online at http://lib.calpoly.edu/search-and-find/collections-and-archives/reference-services/.
Re/Collecting Project Archive. California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo. Special Collections and Archives
Biography/Administrative History
By the 1920s, the Central Coast, located halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, emerged as a vibrant growing region
after the establishment of the rail effectively brought it out of geographic and economic isolation. It became a part of the
migrant labor trail, and towns like Pismo Beach, Lompoc, Guadalupe, and Santa Maria were economic—and social—hubs for agricultural
workers who came from places like China, Mexico, Japan, Hawaii, and the Philippines. Even before this, the area was home to
Chumash and Salinan Indians, who were displaced by Spanish conquerors. And like many places in the United States during the
nineteenth century, the Central Coast saw the influx of European immigrants.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection contains digital oral history interviews (circa 2012-2014) conducted with members of under-documented Central
Coast communities, as well as digitized photograph, documents, objects, and other materials that the interviewees and others
contributed to the project (while retaining the original items). Transcripts, field notes, and indexes exist for many of the
oral histories. The collection also includes one folder of physical documents and a box of original mini-DV tapes (from which
many of the digital video files associated with the oral histories originated).