James Cross and Dr. Jay Buckley, History
The relationship between the Caucasian Americans and the Chinese immigrants in California during the gold rush is a topic that has captured the interest of many historians. Of the available literature related to the Chinese, most focus on racial prejudice as a result of labor competition or their similarities to African Americans with references to economic hardships as the push factor that led the Chinese to immigrate to California.
Though many historians mention that the economic situation in China brought the Chinese to America, they do not analyze the quality of life in California and in China in order to determine whether or not the Chinese immigrants did have a better life in California. The intent of my research was to shed some light on this aspect of 19th century history, believing that the overall quality of life was not better than it would have been in China. I based this hypothesis off of the fact that many of the Chinese immigrants planned on returning to China after making some money in America as well as several other factors.
In order to dig deeper into this topic, it was necessary for me to gain access to primary documents not available in any of the archives near Provo, Utah. As a result, I set aside a week during the summer so that I could visit the Bancroft archives in Berkeley, California. After I arrived in Berkeley, my plans were frustrated due to miscommunication that led me to make several short notice changes to my itinerary. Prior to my visit, I spoke with member of the library staff to make sure that I would be able to see the documents. This person would not answer any specific questions that I had about the documents, but repeatedly told me that I had to come down and browse through the documents myself. When I arrived, most of the archive was being remodeled and the documents were in storage, requiring a weeks notice for each document to be pulled and brought to the temporary archive site. Additionally, I found out from the archive receptionist that all of the collections that I was interested in had been digitized by a graduate student and was available on the internet. This was a surprise as the first receptionist on the phone had told me that there were many more documents available than were posted on the web.
Disappointed, I looked up all of the local libraries and archives and made several calls. The California Historical Society was not open, though most of their documents are digitally available in conjunction with Bancroft. The libraries near Bancroft did not have any gold rush era documents nor did the Berkeley Historical Society. However, the historians at the Berkeley Historical Society provided me with the address of the California State Library in Sacramento where I spent the rest of my time. This shift in plans actually proved to be extremely beneficial as none of their documents have been digitized.
My research also took a turn. I have only been able to find a few primary documents in English that describe the conditions in China and they mostly focused on the rebellions or missionary work. As a result, I have not been able to illuminate the quality of life aspect of the gold rush as I had hoped. This is probably one of the obstacles that other historians have not been able to successfully tackle. Nevertheless, my research has led me to two new areas of interest.
While at the California State Library, I came across a collection of court documents, legal memorandums, and telegraph correspondences related to a murder by a Chinese miner in Downieville during the 1880s. I am now trying to find more information from old newspapers from the region and I may be able to find enough material to write a short biographical article on this miner. I recently received photocopies of the entire collection in the mail and am currently reading the documents more thoroughly.
Another result of my research is that I have come to the conclusion that historians are placing too much emphasis on individual factors that they believe caused the prejudice. Though factors such as labor competition and attitudes towards blacks may have caused or led to racism, these are actually be manifestations of deeper issues rather than direct causal factors. On this aspect of the Chinese, my research is complete and I am currently working on an article with my findings which will be available this next year. Earlier this year, however, I did have the opportunity to present information at the Mary Lou Fulton poster conference this spring about the direction my research was taking and my initial findings prior visiting the archives in California.
This has been an invaluable experience for me. I have learned much more about the Chinese miners by searching through original documents than I could have learned by relying solely on secondary sources. It has helped me to see past some of the biases of other authors and has given me many questions to ponder and work through. The research has definitely stretched my understanding and has helped me to be more analytical in my studies. I have learned to look at others works more critically without believing them solely because of the academic status.