Rice University Launches Indian American Community Archive Initiative
Picture Credit -Chandu Kongara- rice.edu
India-West News Desk
HOUSTON, TEXAS- Rice University’s Fondren Library has officially established an Indian American Community Archives initiative to document the experiences and contributions of the Indian community in Houston. The project will be housed within the university’s existing Houston Asian American Archive following a formal agreement signed on June 1 between Rice and the Foundation for India Studies.
The Houston Asian American Archive, co-founded by Anne Chao and Tani Barlow, has been documenting regional experiences for more than a decade. Chao explained that the initiative is part of an effort to ensure the repository remains truly pan-Asian, encompassing Southeast and South Asian communities alongside East Asian narratives. “Houston is the seventh-largest city for Asian Americans in this country, but in this region there was no repository of Asian American stories, so we began building one,” Chao said. She added that the support of the Foundation for India Studies, led by president Krishna Vavilala, provides a meaningful boost to the archive’s ability to represent the South Asian population.
The partnership aims to build a comprehensive public collection through the gathering of oral histories, community artifacts, and donated materials. Amanda Focke, head of special collections at Rice’s Fondren Library, noted that these materials are essential for preserving stories that would otherwise be lost. “Oral histories and ephemera are so important because they tell stories that might not be anywhere else, and they fill in gaps in the history,” Focke said. “It’s important that that history be available publicly, because how else will people write new stories?”
The signing ceremony held at the Woodson Research Center included university leadership, representatives from the Foundation for India Studies, and the Consul General of India, D.C. Manjunath. Moving forward, the archive is intended to serve as a long-term resource for students, researchers, and community members interested in the history of Indian Americans in the region.
