Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Nellie Wong papers
- Dates:
- 1970-2013
- Creators:
- Wong, Nellie
- Abstract:
- Personal and professional materials of Nellie Wong, former poet and activist based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
- Extent:
- 16.43 Linear Feet (1 carton, 33 document boxes, 2 half-document boxes, 1 flat box)
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of Item], Nellie Wong papers, CEMA 14. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection contains personal and professional materials generated by Wong, mostly between 1972-2013. The bulk of the collection contains Wong's writings, both prose and poetry (including manuscripts and numerous drafts), correspondence, publicity and professional files. Also included are several folders of correspondence from fellow writers, friends, students, and the public. The second largest component of the collection are the subject files, which include numerous folders on specific individuals, conferences, and subjects. Altogether the Nellie Wong Papers provide much insight into Wong's political, creative and social life as an Asian American.
- Biographical / historical:
-
A Chinese-American poet and union activist, Nellie Wong (September 12, 1934 - January 2, 2026) was born and raised in the Oakland, California "Chinatown" of the 1940's. After the incarceration of over 120,000 Japanese Americans to relocation camps during World War II, Wong worked in her family's great China Restaurant in Oakland's Chinatown. Later, she traveled across the Bay to pursue studies in creative writing at San Francisco State University. Meanwhile, Wong worked at the Bethlehem Steel Corporation as a secretary from 1964-82. Wong began writing poetry in the early 1970's. Wong was one of the founding members of Unbound Feet, a writing collective of Chinese-American women who read together and lectured at universities throughout California, in the late 1970's. Wong's poems deal with themes involving Asian Americans, especially the sense of leaving "home" behind. "I care about the roots of Asian-American culture and how and why they came here," says Wong, referring to the long history of Asians' immigration to America. "It's something every Asian family has experienced."
In discussing her work, Wong stated, "A lot of my poems come from the workplace; that's where I've experienced a great deal of sexism and racism." Wong published three collections of poetry: Death of Long Steam Lady (1986), Dreams in Harrison Railroad Park (1977) and Stolen Moments (1997). Her poem, "Song of Farewell", was installed in 1996 on an F-Line Muni platform in the middle of the Embarcadero roadway near Greenwich Street. The poem, chosen by the San Francisco Arts Commission, is part of the Waterfront Transportation Project Historic and Interpretive Signage Program along San Francisco's North Embarcadero. Based on the thoughts and feelings of a man leaving China and the wife he is leaving behind in the first years of the 20th century, "Song of Farewell" is about separation, departure, and ultimately death, says Wong. One of her articles, entitled, "Asian American Women and politics" recently appeared in Asian American anthology entitled, Legacy to Liberation: politics and culture of revolutionary asian pacific america (2000). Wong, together with Mitsuye Yamada, was the subject of a 1981 film Mitsuye and Nellie, Asian American Poets, produced by Light-Saraf Productions about the first-generation of Chinese and Japanese wives and daughters allowed into America by U.S. immigration constraints, and was also featured in the film Just Say It: A Revolution in the Making (2004).
Wong was a member of Poets and Writers, NY; Radical Women, The Freedom Socialist Party; the National Asian American Telecommunications Association; and the University Professional and Technical Employees, and was a delegate to the San Francisco Central Labor Council. In 1983, Wong served as a delegate for the first US Women Writers Tour to China. She also served as a visiting professor in Women's Studies at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (1985). In 1989 she was honored by the San Francisco Women's Foundation with the Women of Words award, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2005 for her poem, "Sailing with Memories of Li Hong." Wong prided herself on her feminist and socialist viewpoints. "The more I see some people fighting back, the more I see everyone acquiring the strength to fight back," says Wong. "Otherwise I'd just shut my door and say, 'good-bye world.' But that's not me."
Nellie Wong passed away on January 2, 2026 in San Francisco, CA.
- Acquisition information:
- Donated by Nellie Wong, July 1998.
- Processing information:
-
Processed by CEMA staff, December 20, 2000. Revised by CEMA staff, 2002. Revised by Suzanne Im, 2013. Finding aid revised by Rebecca Vasquez, 2024 and 2025.
- Arrangement:
-
This collection is arranged by topic into six series:
- Series 1: Personal/Biographical
- Series 2: Correspondence
- Series 3: Literary Writings
- Series 4: Lectures and Appearances
- Series 5: Subject Files
- Series 6: Publications
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-01-12 14:29:04 -0800 .
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
The collection is open for research. A portion of the collection is stored offsite. Advance notice is required for retrieval.
- Terms of access:
-
Property rights to the collection and physical objects belong to the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at the UCSB Library. All applicable literary rights, including copyright to the collection and physical objects, are protected under Chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code and may be retained by the creator and the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns.
All requests to reproduce, quote from, or otherwise reuse collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB at special@library.ucsb.edu. Consent is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or their assignees for permission to publish where the UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of Item], Nellie Wong papers, CEMA 14. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.
- Location of this collection:
-
UC Santa Barbara LibrarySanta Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US
- Contact:
- (805) 893-3062