Guide to the Aradanas family papers CEMA 212
Finding aid prepared by Allison Phelps, 2025.
UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections
2025 May 29
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara 93106-9010
Phone Number: (805) 893-3062
special@library.ucsb.edu
Contributing Institution:
UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections
Title: Aradanas family papers
Creator:
Aradanas, Pedro, 1905-1998
Creator:
Aradanas, Angeles "Lily", 1924-2017
Creator:
Aradanas, Clarito
Identifier/Call Number: CEMA 212
Physical Description:
12 Linear Feet
(3 cartons, 5 document boxes, 7 audiocassettes, 5 8MM, 10 S-VHS, 8 VHS, 13 MiniDVDs, 7 DVDs, 1 CD, 2 zip discs, 11 3.5 inch
floppies)
Date (inclusive): 1925-2017
Abstract: This collection includes papers generated by members of the Aradanas family from 1925 through 2017. They tell the immigration
stories of Pedro and Angeles "Lily" Aradanas when they migrated, separately, from the Philippines to the United States and
the life they established with their four children in Lompoc, California. Their son, Clarito "Bing" Aradanas, conducted research
on the Filipino community in Lompoc and throughout the west coast. That research is included along with photographs, correspondence,
negatives, ephemera, books, articles, and biographical materials.
Language of Material:
English
, Spanish; Castilian
.
Access Restrictions
Audiovisual materials must be reformatted for access. Please contact the Department of Special Research Collections in advance
to request access.
Use Restrictions
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 are 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@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 assigns for permission to publish where the UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of Item], Aradanas family papers, CEMA 212. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library,
University of California, Santa Barbara.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Clarito "Bing" Aradanas, 2023 and 2024.
Biographical Note
The following is derived from a family history written by Clarito "Bing" Aradanas:
Pedro Dua Dua Aradanas (1905-1998) was born in the Philippine province of Pangasinan. He migrated to the United States in
1925 with the intention of only remaining in the country for several years. He arrived in Seattle at the age of 20 and lived
there for 6 years. He struggled to find work due to the insecure nature of the manual labor he was limited to due to his race.
He lived in various places in California from 1931-1936, studied in Los Angeles from 1936-1938 and arrived on the Central
California Coast in 1945 where he lived in various communities with his family until his death at age 93 in Lompoc, California.
Angeles "Lily" Aradanas (1924-2017) was born in Tigao, a then remote fishing village in what is now the Surigao del Sur, a
southern Philippine province. She migrated to the United States in 1958, five years after her marriage to Pedro. Lily attended
Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California. She worked as a teacher in local Catholic elementary schools and taught a stand-alone
catechism class on Sundays from 1977-1994. She was a life-long Catholic, while still maintaining Filipino indigenous beliefs,
until her death at the age of 92 in Lompoc, California.
Both Lily and Pedro were active in the Fil-Am (Filipino American) community on the Central California Coast, participating
in the Lompoc Filipino American Club and congregating at the La Purisima Catholic Church throughout their lives. They had
four children, the youngest of which is Clarito "Bing" Aradanas (1963- ), who grew up in Lompoc and attended various California
universities prior to becoming an Ethnic Studies lecturer at Cal Poly. Bing specializes in Western colonialism in the Middle
East and the Asian American Experience. He has played a central role in recording and preserving Filipino history on the Central
Coast.
Historical Note
The following is taken from a family history written by Clarito "Bing" Aradanas and provides historical context for the immigration
stories of Pedro and Lily Aradanas in the first half of the twentieth century.
1898:The U.S. defeats Spain during the Spanish-American War at a decisive battle in Spain's longtime and long-Christianized
(Roman Catholic) colony, the Philippines.
1899:Against the aspirations of independence by the Philippine people, the U.S. commences a war of imperial conquest against
them, which ends in total U.S. victory in 1913. An estimated one million natives perish; the vast majority die in U.S. Army-built
concentration camps.
1900:The U.S. declares all Philippine natives under its rule not full U.S. citizens, rather "U.S. nationals" and "citizens
of U.S. insular territories," which is basically second-class citizenship. Until 1935, they are ruled on their native land
by unelected U.S. Governors General, their economy is dominated by U.S.-based capitalism, Americanized English becomes their
language of education, and the imposition of American cultural norms begins. Natives can migrate freely to the mainland U.S.
but they may not vote, practice law, or run for public office there. And depending on the individual U.S. state or territory,
it could be illegal for them to own land, property or businesses, to marry interracially, and often racial segregation was
legal in public institutions like schools or at privately owned facilities like restaurants, cinemas and lodging (and this
included parts of West Coast states).
1900:Upon the desire of U.S. businessmen to actively recruit cheap manual labor in the islands for U.S. industries – especially
in agriculture – in 1900 the U.S. slowly begins allowing tiny trickles of Philippine natives (primarily male, young, single,
poor, and from rural areas) to migrate to U.S. territories and West Coast states. Such tiny trickles last until 1924.
1924:After outlawing, on purely racial grounds, immigration of common laborers – women from China (1875), men from China (1882),
both sexes from Japan (1907) and the rest of Asia from Palestine to the Pacific Ocean (1917), and then most of the rest of
the planet except Northern and Western Europe (1924), the U.S. in 1924 begins allowing the first major wave of migration from
the Philippines to the mainland U.S., primarily for cheap manual labor in various industries: agriculture, fish canneries,
timber, railroads. Only 1 in 16 are Filipinas.
1935:As a result of widespread anti-Filipino racism up and down the U.S. West Coast since the late 1920's, the U.S. outlaws
free im/migration of common laborers from the Philippines.Philippine natives on both sides of the Pacific Ocean are still
U.S. colonial subjects, but their legal status is now as foreign "aliens" who are racially "ineligible to citizenship" (except
for the relatively tiny number of children subsequently born in the U.S. mainland).
Scope and Content
This collection includes papers generated by members of the Aradanas family from 1925 through 2017. They tell the immigration
stories of Pedro and Angeles "Lily" Aradanas when they migrated, separately, from the Philippines to the United States and
the life they established with their four children in Lompoc, California. Their youngest child, Clarito "Bing" Aradanas, conducted
research on the Filipino community in Lompoc and throughout the west coast. That research is included along with photographs,
correspondence, negatives, ephemera, books, articles, audiovisual and biographical materials. There are eight series organized
alphabetically and chronologically thereunder with the exception of Series IV which lists books and artcles alphabetically
by title.
Of note: Bing conducted and recorded interviews of both his parents and Filipino elders (Manongs) from 1995-2003. Those interviews
are included as subseries of series I, II and III.
Arrangement
- Series 1, Aradanas, Angeles "Lily"
- Series 2, Aradanas, Clarito "Bing"
- Series 3, Aradanas, Pedro
- Series 4, Books and articles
- Series 5, Lompoc Filipino American Club
- Series 6, Audio recordings
- Series 7, Born digital
- Series 8, Video recordings
General
Family histories written by Bing Aradanas are included at the beginning of box 1.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Filipino Americans -- California -- Lompoc -- History -- 20th century
Filipino Americans -- California -- Social conditions
Asian Americans -- California
Foreign workers, Filipino -- United States -- History -- 20th century
box 1
Trinidad family documents
1954-2019
box 1
Immigration materials
1956-1958
box 1
Citizenship and other biographical documents
1956-2017
box 1
English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching materials
1971-1993
box 1
First communion notes
1982-1989
box 1
Correspondence with Catholic communities in Tigao, Philippines
1984-2004
box 1
Support for Tigao civic issues
1991-2006
item V18421/VHS
[1994 Cinco de Mayo celebration at La Honda Elementary School]
1994 May 05
box 1
La Purisima Catholic Church
1998-2011
box 1
La Purisima Catholic Church
1999-2011, undated
item A49394/CS
Music for first communion mass
undated
item V18437/8MM
[Interview with Angeles T. Aradanas]
1995 November
item V18419/VHS
[Interview with Angeles T. Aradanas, part II]
1995 November 23
item V18415/VHS
[Interview with Angeles T. Aradanas, part I]
1995 November 25
item V18416/8MM
[Interview with Angeles T. Aradanas, part I]
1995 November 25
item A49389/CS
Mom's songs (in Visayan)
1999 January 30-31
item V18434/8MM
[Inteview with Angeles T. Aradanas]
2000 February 20
item V18418/VHS
[Interview with Angeles T. Aradanas, part III]
2000 February 20
Aradanas, Clarito "Bing"
Scope and Contents
There is contextual information for the interviews of Filipino elders (Manongs) in the "Lompoc/Busolan research" folder of
this series.
box 1
Filipinos in the western United States
1938-2008, undated
box 1
Lompoc/Bulosan research
2002-2003
box 1
Fish and Chips research
1996-1998
box 1
Preserving P.I. (Philippine Islands) Market
2007
item V18424/VHS-C
[Manong: Mariano Viloria]
2002 December 16
item V18452/DVD
[Manong: Mariano Viloria]
2002 December 16
item V18428/VHS-C
[Manong: Rivelina Libanao (widow of Roman Libonao)]
2002 December 17
item V18453/DVD
[Manong: Roman Libonao]
2002 December 17
item V18425/VHS-C
[Manong: Pedro Pascua]
2002 December 19
item V18428/VHS-C
[Manong: Raimundo Samortin]
2002 December 19
item V18433/VHS-C
[Manong: Emiliana Ignalan (wife of Florentino Ignalan)]
2002 December 19
item V18427/VHS
[Manong: Raimundo Samortin]
2002 December 19
item V18454/DVD
[Manong: Emiliana Ignalan (wife of Florentino Ignalan)]
2002 December 19
item V/18426/VHS-C
Manong: Cleto Tablang, part I
2003 February 11
item V18430/VHS-C
Manong: Cleto Tablang, part II
2003 February 11
item V18429/VHS-C
[Manong: Sonny Javier]
2003 February 13
item V18454/DVD
[Manong: Sonny Javier]
2003 February 13
item V18455/DVD
[Manong: Freddie Viscara, Jr. and Pedro Pascua]
2003 March 23
item V18432/VHS-C
[Manongs: Frederico Viscara, Pedro Aradana's coins, Guadalupe's Eucalyptus trees]
2003 March 23
item V18457/DVD
[Manong: Cleto Tablang, parts I and II]
2003 February 11
item V18450/DV
[Manongs: Narrative]
undated
item V18443/DV
Ancient Culture Video, Manongs part, I
undated
box 1
Immigration to the United States
1925-1928
box 1
College: Los Angeles and Palo Alto
1936-1938, 1945
box 1
Pedro citizenship documents
1938-1955
box 1
Chicago: World War II
circa 1939-1946
box 1
P.I. Market (Philippine Islands Market)
1941-1946
box 1
Family's civic ties with Binalonan, Philippines
1942-1945, 1972
box 1
US Department of Agriculture
1943-1953
box 1
Eastern Republic Farms
circa 1945-1955
box 1
Pre-marriage photographs
1946-1951
box 1
Government records
1948-1998
box 1
LFE Market (Lompoc Filipino Enterprises)
1950s
box 1
Travel to Philippines for marriage to Lily Aradanas
1953
box 1
Correspondence: Pedro's Bay Area friends
1956-1957
box 1
Orcales, Luis Pascal
1970s
box 2
Binolonians of northern California
1985-1994
item V18417/S-VHS
[Interview with Pedro D. Aradanas, part I]
1995 September 2
item V18435/8MM
[Interview with Pedro D. Aradanas, part I]
1995 September 2
item V18420/VHS
[Interview with Pedro D. Aradanas, part II]
1995 September 2-3
item V18436/8MM
[Interview with Pedro D. Aradanas, part II]
1995 September 2-3
item A49390/CS
[Interview with Pedro D. Aradanas, parts I and II]
1996 April 30
item A49391/CS
[Interview with Pedro D. Aradanas, part III]
1996 April 30
item A49391/CS
[Interview with Pedro D. Aradanas, part IV]
1996 May 02
item A49393/CS
[Interview with Pedro D. Aradanas, part V]
1995 September 02 and 1996 May 02
item V18451/DVD
[Interview with Pedro D. Aradanas]
1995
box 2
America is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan
1943
box 2
Articles and books related to Filipino history
1913 (copy), 2009
box 2
Articles and books related to Filipino history
1959-2003, undated
box 3
Basketry of the Luzon Cordillera, Phlippines by Florina H. Capistrano-Baker et al
1998
box 3
The Body Book edited by Fe Maria C. Arriola
1993
box 2
Charm, Beauty and Personality for Success by Edyth Thornton McLeod
1952
box 2
Chips by William Henry Scott
1989
box 3
The Dances of the Emerald Isles by Leonor Orosa Goquingco
1980
box 2
Filipinos in China Before 1500 by William Henry Scott
1989
box 3
Filipinos: Forgotten Asian Americans by Fred Cordova
1983
box 2
Foreign Folk Dances by Francisca Reyes Aquino
1948
Physical Description: Fragile. Binding broken, pages ripped and softened paper.
box 2
From the Rainbow's Varied Hue: Textiles of the Southern Philippines edited by Roy W. Hamilton
1998
box 2
Head Hunters by David Howard
2000
box 2
Lieutenant Ramsey's War: From Horse Soldier to Guerilla Commander by Edwin Price Ramsey
1990
box 3
Manual ti Narang-ag A Makitegtegged by M.L. Alverne
1930
box 2
Men of the Sulu Sea by Helen Follett
1945
box 2
A Philippine Album by Jonathan Best
1998
box 3
Philippine Costume by J. Moreno
1995
box 2
Playground Demonstration by Francisca Reyes Aquino
1951
Physical Description: Fragile. Binding broken, pages ripped and softened paper.
box 2
Prehispanic Source Materials: For the Study of Philippine History by William Henry Scott
1984
box 2
Remembering Carlos Bulosan by P.C. Morantte
1984
box 3
Sinaunang Habi: Philippine Ancestral Weave by Marian Pastor-Roces
1991
box 3
The Soul Book edited by Demetrio, Fernando, and Zialcita
2000
Correspondence
Biographical / Historical
Lily and Pedro first "met" in 1948 via trans-Pacific snail mail as a result of Pedro seeing a flattering photograph of Lily
in Cornelio Barbon's residence, a fellow clerk at the Salinas branch of the P.I. Market. He asked Cornelio's permission to
write to her. This series includes letters between Lily and Pedro during the five years leading up to their 1953 wedding in
the Philippines, and also during the five years of their involuntary separation leading to her moving to the United States
to live with Pedro in Lompoc in 1958. It also includes letters and cards received from friends and relatives.
box 4
Letters from Pedro to Lily
1946-1958
box 5
Letters from Lily to Pedro
1948-1958, 1972
box 6
Letters from relatives to Pedro and Lily
1978-1998
box 6
Letters to Lily
1958-1960
box 6
Trinidad, Pedro
1959-1982
box 7
Announcements: Family and friends
1969-2014
box 6
Cards from Pedro to Lily
undated
Lompoc Filipino American Club
box 8
Lompoc Filipino community clippings
1980-2013
box 8
Lompoc Filipino American Club
1987-2010
box 8
Lompoc Filipino American Club
1971-2004
box 8
Lompoc Filipino American Club
1972-2003
box 8
Lompoc Filipino American Club
1991-2011
box 8
Lompoc Filipino American Club photographs
2000-2003
item A49388/CS
Interview with Trinidad Rojo
1987 June 05
item A49392/CS
Trinidad Rojo poem and song in ILocano and message from Akong Bana
undated
item A49395/CD
1960's Asian American songs of resistance
2011
box 2
[My book, Chapters 1-6], 1 of 2
undated
box 2
[My book, Chapters 1-6], 2 of 2
undated
box 2
[Lily and Pedro Aradanas 101]
undated
box 2
PI (Philippine Islands) Market Flyer
undated
box 2
[Videos, articles and projects from Cal Poly]
circa 2004
box 2
Pedro Aradanas obituary
undated
box 2
[Lily Aradanas]
2001 April 11
box 2
BIO from Chris [Illegible]
undated
item V18420/VHS
[Dr. Spock on Nova]
1996 May 02
item V18431/VHS-C
[Filipino American Cultural Celebration: Pasko Sa Nayon]
2002 December 21
item V18423/VHS
Sayaw: A video documentary on Philippine Ethnic Dance
undated
item V18419/VHS
[Tours of 905 North A. Street]
2000 February 20
