This collection documents Chinese cultural events, organizations, education, and the Los Angeles Chinatown community during the 1970s and 1980s. Images portray a range of events and a number of community demonstrations like a protest led by the Chinatown Service Center to protest the cutting of community services. Other events include cultural events such as the Chinese New Year’s parade, children’s pageants, and the Chinatown carnival.

This photo collection generated by Visual Communications (bulk are negatives; some prints) documents the Filipino American community. These historically significant images include the very-active, but not-well-known Filipino contingent of the United Farm Workers union, Agbayani Village, Filipino activism in America, and various community and cultural organizations. 

Negatives and prints accessioned from Japanese American families. Many focus on Japanese Americans in the military, wartime, and internment camps.

Created by Visual Communications, this collection documents the growing Korean-American community in Los Angeles, which boasts the largest community of Koreans outside of Korea.  Photos portray Koreatown’s residents, churches, and Korean-owned businesses, all centered around Olympic Boulevard.

This collection includes 200 U-matic tapes and 1 binder of 35mm negatives about the Little Tokyo People’s Rights Organization (LTPRO) that formed in the 1970s as a result of the now-defunct Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles’ funding for blighted areas. The LTPRO was founded to assist community businesses and long-time senior residents that were in danger of being displaced by overseas, multinational companies. Tapes include footage of interviews with residents and activists, meetings with groups, and protests and actions by the LTPRO to stop eviction.

Photographs document Samoan American life around the San Pedro and Carson communities in the greater Los Angeles area. The collection includes photographs of church events, dance festivals, and other community events.

Chronicles the early activities of VC from its inception, much in anti-war activism, community issues, educational programs, and the creation of films by and about Asian Pacific Islander Americans. These images, generated by Visual Communications, portray the behind-the-scenes productions and the grassroots filmmaking process of seminal Asian American films, as well as publications and VC exhibits and events. The documentation of the early VC activities show the unique history of VC and its collaborative role in transforming and influencing Asian American media art through activism.