The Vietnamese community comprises 2% of the population of Portland, one of the largest among major U.S. cities. Yet its history is mostly undocumented. The experiences of this community in Portland offer an important corrective to the traditional picture of Oregon’s past. This project seeks to contribute to a more rounded history of Portland by documenting the stories of Vietnamese Portlanders and collecting oral histories, documents, photographs, and ephemera from members of the community.

Vietnamese Portland: Memory, History, Community is a multi-year archival project at Lewis & Clark College that seeks to document a more representative, thorough history of the city of Portland by preserving the history and contributions of the Vietnamese community to the city. The collection includes individual and institutional oral history interviews, documents, photographs, and ephemera.