Chinese Americans of Cambridge Oral History Project

Oral History Project

In 2022-2024, we interviewed several individuals about their experiences being Chinese or Chinese American in Cambridge. Interviews were conducted by volunteer Justin Murphy and History Cambridge Executive Director Marieke Van Damme. Transcripts and audio coming soon!

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May 6: Stories of Cambridge: Chinese American Culinary Pioneers

Stories of Cambridge: Chinese American Culinary Pioneers Monday, May 66 pmCambridge Public Library Lecture Hall, 449 BroadwayFree To celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage (AAPI) Month, History Cambridge, in collaboration with our friends at Chinese Historical Society of New England and One in a Billion Productions, will host an event discussing Chinese American families’…

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Waves of Cambridge Migration: An Update

By Doug Brown, 2018 Why do people uproot their lives, move far from friends and family, and suffer the indignities that often come with being “new” to a place? Sometimes it’s for an education, or a different job, or a new relationship. Or maybe it’s simply to escape difficult circumstances, to reinvent oneself. The short…

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Savoring the Legacy of Joyce Chen

Chef. Restaurateur. Entrepreneur. by Stephen Chen, president of Joyce Chen Foods Reproduced from joycechenfoods.com with permission Born in Beijing in 1917, my mother Joyce Chen came to this country with my dad, sister and brother in 1949. We moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where friends of the family had settled, and where I was born. Surrounded…

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