Poetry and Inscriptions: Translations and Analysis, Angel Island Immigration Station, Tiburon, California

Architectural Resources Group

From introduction: "This study is an outgrowth of a research effort begun in 2000 to document and assess the carved Chinese poetry found at the Angel Island Immigration Station in Tiburon, California. Initial documentation and assessment by Architectural Resources Group (ARG) in their Angel Island Immigration Station Poem Conservation Report revealed what appeared to be a proliferation of carved poetry extending beyond the translated works previously completed for the book Island by Him Mark Lai, Genny Lim, and Judy Yung in 1980. Additionally, a large quantity of written and carved inscriptions (nonpoems) in Chinese and several other languages was also identified. The translation and analysis of all poetry and inscriptions is one component of a larger, multi-layered project to rehabilitate and restore the immigration station, a unique national historic landmark. This study will help the California Department of Parks and Recreation, the custodians of the property, guide the interpretive planning effort currently underway at the immigration station. It will also aid future researchers and the public in gaining a better understanding of the immigrant experience at Angel Island Immigration Station. This study was designed to build upon the research that had been completed on the poetry to date. 1. To identify and document the physical locations of previously translated and newly found poems and inscriptions. 2. To translate and interpret the meaning of the Chinese poems in the Detention Barracks that have not been translated to date. 2. To translate and interpret Chinese inscriptions (non-poetry) written or carved on the walls of the Detention Barracks, and including a small selection in the Hospital. 3. To analyze the poems for literary style and meaning; to gain insight into the background of their authors; to extract information about the time period in which they were written and their relationship to world events, places, or people; and to see what relationship these poems may have to each other. 4. To review the previously translated poems and to compare them with the newly translated poems for their style and relationships as stated in Item 3. 5. To translate and interpret inscriptions in Japanese and other languages written or carved on the walls of the Detention Barracks, and including a small selection in the Hospital. From 1910 until 1940, the Angel Island Immigration Station was a primary point of entry to the United States from the Pacific Rim and the western coast of South America. One million immigrants were estimated to have passed through this facility during those thirty years. Relatively small in comparison to the Ellis Island Immigration Station's 20 million immigrants, Angel Island did represent the majority of the Asian immigration into this country during the first half of the twentieth century. Approximately 175,000 Chinese, and an undetermined number of Japanese, Korean, Indian, Filipino, Russians, South Americans and other Asians comprised the one million immigrants at Angel Island Immigration Station. " Project funding was provided in part by a 2000 Save America's Treasures grant to the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (grant number 06-00-ML-1037) administered by the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. The Federal Save America's Treasures grants program began in 1999 and helps preserve nationally significant historic properties and collections that convey our nation's rich heritage to future generations of Americans. Since 1999, there have been almost 4,000 requests for funding totaling $1.54 billion. In response to these requests, $315,152,000 was awarded to 1,287 recipients. Grants were awarded to Federal, state, local, and tribal government entities, as well as non-profit organizations through a competitive matching-grant program.

Poetry and Inscriptions: Translations and Analysis, Angel Island Immigration Station, Tiburon, California

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