One way the University Archives builds its collections on Duke's Asian, Asian-American, and Pacific Islander history is by working with student groups to archive documentation about their activities!
If you're in a student group and would like to know more about the archiving process, or if you're just interested in how archiving works, take a look at the website for our student group collecting project, Your Organizations Live On at the University Archives (or YOLO@UA).
Or ask me!
There are two ways to search the Chronicle: by date and by a full-text keyword search.
1. Searching the Chronicle by date: start here!
You can limit your search to the issues from a single year, decade, etc., and browse through them in chronological order.
2. Searching the Chronicle by keyword(s): start here!
The simple search box (purple arrow) is great for searching single keywords, fairly unique last names, etc. Or click on the "Advanced Search" link (green arrow).
The "Advanced Search" is your best option if you want to search for more complex keyword phrases, like full names or the names of student organizations, campus offices, academic programs, etc. Make sure to select "Exact phrase" from the dropdown box of search options at the right.
You can access digitized volumes of the Chanticleer from 1912 (the first one!) to 2015 at:
The Chanticleer's search feature isn't always perfect! The yearbooks often include fancy fonts, which can be hard for the scanning software to recognize. Sometimes it's necessary to page through the Chanticleer and see what you can find; there's usually a table of contents that can at least point you to a section you might want to look through.
Group One |
Chanticleer: 1925 (see page 107) Chronicle search term: Asian Students Association |
Group Two |
Chanticleer: 1993 (see pages 17, 73, and 204) Chronicle search term: Spectrum (you'll get a lot of results! Focus on results from the 1990s.) |
Group Three |
Chanticleer: 2016 Chronicle search term: Diya and Duke India Association (Duke India Association--or DIA--is Diya's original name!) |
Group Four |
Chanticleer: 1982 (see page 80) Chronicle search term: Asian Pacific Studies Institute |
Group Five |
Chanticleer: 1961 (see page 89. Pages 149 and 184 are also, sadly, relevant: content warning for racist parties!) Chronicle search term: East Coast Asian Student Union or ECASU (try a search on each!) |
Group Six |
Chanticleer: 1956 (see pages 29 and 259) Chronicle search term: Asia Prime (for this, you'll want to search the Chronicle's website) *content warning: These materials document racist theme parties held by Duke students. The Asia Prime party, held by Kappa Sigma in February 2013, prompted strong condemnation and protest on campus. |
Group Six (alternate) |
Chanticleer: 2007 Chronicle search term: Lunar New Year or Diwali |
In addition to the Chanticleer and the Chronicle, the University Archives has a number of archival sources related to the Duke Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander community's history.
As a place to start, you may want to take a look at this online exhibit, "Cherry Blossoms Among Magnolias?": A History of the Asian American Experience at Duke, created by Alan Ko, T '19 and based on his research in University Archives collections.
You can learn more about the AAPI collections and resources available at the University Archives through this research guide. Then, you can visit the Rubenstein Library reading room to work with the materials or make a reproduction order to access the materials remotely.