Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Guide to the Frank Chin Papers
Wyles, MSS 103
Wyles, MSS 103
No online items
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Description
The Frank Chin Papers contain personal and professional materials of Chins' from 1940-2001. The collection is divided into
four series spanning 112 archival boxes. The bulk of the collection consists of Chin’s manuscripts, including essays, articles,
novels, scripts (film and theater) and notes. Also included are several correspondence files relating to Chin’s personal life
and professional projects as well as extensive correspondence with other notable contemporary writers (including but not limited
to Maxine Hong Kingston, James “Jimmie” Omura, Michi Weglyn, Mei Berssenbrugge). The second largest component of the collection
are the subject files, which includes numerous folders relating to specific individuals, historical events and subjects. Altogether,
the collection provides critical insight into Chin’s creative, personal and professional life as a contemporary Chinaman author
and playwright. (It is important to note that Frank Chin refers to himself as a Chinaman, not a Chinese American, though he
was born in America of Chinese decent.)
Background
Frank Chin is a UCSB graduate (1965) and is widely recognized as the most influential Asian American dramatist and writer
(novels, short stories, essays) in the country. He is one of a handful of top literary figures in Asian American literary
and cultural communities, and he is distinguished as being the first Asian American playwright produced in New York City.
He founded the Asian American Theater Workshop in San Francisco which later evolved into the Asian American Theater Company
(AATC). In discussing the value of the papers, Chin remarked, "I hope that my collection of research, letters and experimental
manuscripts will stimulate a more traditional study of Asian American literature, beginning with an introduction to the Asian
children's stories shared by China, Korea, and Japan since pre-historic times, and the "vernacular novels" developed to spread
Chinese heroic tradition of the Ming, as a conscious expression of the myth of civilization throughout Asia.” “By making my
papers available to the public, I hope that my efforts to treat knowledge of Asia and America as equally important will be
seen and used.”
Extent
68.0 linear feet
121 document boxes; including 1 oversize container
Restrictions
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or
quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given
on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.