The family archives of New Zealand's Chinese immigrant community

Abstract

Family archives are unique collections that can be both personally and culturally relevant. However, most past academic research has focused only on the family archives of already prominent individuals and families. Traditionally, such academic research has also excluded minority groups such as immigrant communities. In recent years, there has been a push in archives research to find value in the items, records and stories of family archives of marginalised groups. This research utilised semi-structured interviews of Chinese immigrants in New Zealand to explore the contents, preservation, and sharing of their family archives. It revealed that the archives of Chinese immigrants are relatively young, only one or two generations old due to past poor record-keeping and socio-economic challenges. Despite this, the archives are diverse, often consisting of family records, physical and digital photographs, artwork, jewellery, religious objects, and household items. These items ranged from being those kept in safe spaces and never used, to those used sparingly, to those items that are fully integrated into everyday life and used. They are items that not only connect individuals to their family, but also connect them to their heritage country and culture. These items, along with the stories behind them, are described by the participants as those that are commonplace in the Chinese immigrant community. As such, it appears that these family archives also tell the story not just of the individual, but of a community experience. This places great value on these family archives and their stories as they tell the wider story of a community in New Zealand - a story that is not often shared in the mainstream narrative of New Zealand’s history.