The Ah Quin Diaries

FAIN: RQ-50253-07

University Auxiliary and Research Services Corporation (San Marcos, CA 92096-0001)
Susie Lan Cassel (Project Director: November 2006 to November 2010)

Preparation for publication of the diary of Ah Quin, a nineteenth-century Chinese immigrant to the West Coast of the United States. (24 months)

The purpose of the grant is to provide time for research and writing to complete the first critical edition of the Ah Quin Diary. The Ah Quin Diary is a ten volume, 3,300 page diary that spans the twenty-five year period from 1877-1902, and is arguably the first significant writing in English by a Chinese immigrant to the United States. The Ah Quin Diary is an important historical and literary document and exists in a degree of length and eloquence---in English---that few believed possible for a 19th century Chinese immigrant laborer. It will contribute immeasurably to the growing field of Asian American Studies, to the trans-Pacific field of Chinese Studies, and to the cross-disciplinary fields of history, literature, religion, linguistics, and ethnic studies. Of note, I have a letter of "strong interest" from Stanford University Press to publish this scholarly edition of the diary as a part of their series on Asian America.