MOCA Collections

NYU CONSERVATION STUDENTS TO REPAIR 25 ARTIFACTS

On September 12th, Prof. Pamela Hatchfield and her students held their class at the Museum's Collections and Research Center, where they were given a talk and tour by Rachael Arenstein, Anne Léculier King, Yue Ma, and Herb Tam. Photograph courtesy of Yue Ma.

This fall semester, the Museum will partner with The Conservation Center of the NYU Institute of Fine Arts to have students repair damaged objects in the Museum's collection as part of students’ practicum projects. Students will apply and hone their conservation skills under the supervision of Pamela Hatchfield, currently Head of Object Conservation at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and a professor of NYU’s conservation graduate program.

Below are some of the artifacts selected to undergo conservation treatment by the students.

We thank Pamela Hatchfield and her students for their generous conservation assistance, and A.M. Art Conservation for connecting us. It helps immensely given the scale of our collections' conservation needs after the fire at 70 Mulberry Street.

AT BRADLEY BEACH, NJ

On Saturday, August 26th, the Bradley Beach Historical Society hosted a historic “Chinatown by the Sea” event to celebrate 100 years of Chinese American history in Bradley Beach. As part of the event, the Collections team was invited to exhibit artifacts and moderate a Q&A panel that was intended to model an oral history on stage and provide encouragement to the many longtime and elderly residents in the audience to record and preserve their own unique and valuable stories.

Panelist John Mok, whose grandmother Lee Ng Shee was one of the first Chinese to purchase a home in Bradley Beach in the 1940s, was joined by panelists Tim Pon, one of the first Chinese American licensed surfers, and actress and writer Jodi Long. Though of different generations, all three spent many nostalgic childhood summers in Bradley Beach. Ava Chin, author of the recently published memoir and family history, Mott Street, joined us in co-moderating.

The history of Chinese Americans in Bradley Beach traces back to the 1920s, when the Church of All Nations began sponsoring summer trips for congregants from different ethnic groups to stay at its “Cliff Villa” property in Bradley Beach. Finding it a welcoming place for nonwhites at a time of Chinese Exclusion and residential segregation, families from New York Chinatown eventually rented and purchased their own summer bungalows there on Newark and Cliff Avenues, a few blocks from the beach.

Click the link below to view more Bradley Beach photographs from the Museum's Paul Louie, Lung "Pop" Chin, Douglas J. Chu, and Emile Bocian collections.

Consider emailing [email protected] if you can help us identify people in the newly digitized photographs that photojournalist Emile Bocian took of families at Bradley Beach.

View More Historical Photos

GIDRA NOW DIGITIZED

Collections staff and interns have digitized the Museum's entire run of Gidra (1969-1974), a UCLA student-founded newspaper which gave voice to the Asian American experience. Click the provided link to browse each beautifully illustrated issue with text-searchable table of contents on the Museum's PastPerfect database.

NHPRC GRANT UPDATE

With grant funding support from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), the Collections team has digitized, transcribed, time coded, and cataloged an additional 43 oral histories.

Listen to newly published oral histories from the Museum's FOLD, Journey Wall, 9/11 Chinatown Documentation, Many Voices One Humanity, and Hazel Ying Lee oral history projects on the Museum's oral history archive platform, OHMS. New Journey Wall oral histories include The Family Journey of The Chiu Family and The Family Journey of Doug Ng.

NEW ACQUISITION HIGHLIGHTS

The Museum continues to acquire new objects into our vast 85,000-object collection through a new formal committee process. Our monthly acquisition meetings convene Museum staff, distinguished scholars, board members, and collectors to make informed determinations regarding proposed donations and acquisitions.

Please visit our New Acquisitions page to read more, or click on an icon below to navigate to our latest new acquisition highlights:

SPONSOR AN OBJECT

Consider supporting the Museum's fire recovery efforts by sponsoring an object! Sponsoring an object entails contributing any amount--large or small--to help fund the repair of objects in the collection that were damaged during the fire.

Learn More

The small staff at the Museum's Collections and Research Center do vital work to care for and offer access to an extensive collection of 85,000+ objects documenting and supporting research on Chinese American history. Support the team's work by donating to the Fire Recovery Fund. Include the note, "Donation to MOCA's Fire Recovery Fund." Each contribution helps preserve the Museum's historical treasures for future generations.

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