UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL
CENTER FOR LOWELL HISTORY
CHIGAS, GEORGE. SOUTHEAST ASIANS IN LOWELL COLLECTION,
1987-1989
UML 2
EXTENT: 1 document case (Box 1) and 1 flat box (Box 2).
ABSTRACT:
This collection includes two series, the Cambodian Traditional Crafts and Religious Ceremonies, 1987, and the Southeast Asian Exhibit Photographs, 1988-1989. The first series includes Chigas’ 84-page paper on Cambodian Traditional Crafts and Religious Ceremonies created in 1987 along with corresponding photographs. The project, funded in part by the Historic Preservation Commission of Lowell, Massachusetts, explores the traditional crafts and religious ceremonies of the Cambodian refugees who settled in the Greater Lowell area in the aftermath of the Cambodian genocide. The second series includes 20 photographs from a Lowell exhibit on Southeast Asians that was coordinated by George Chigas.
Some items in the collection have been digitized into the UMass Lowell Southeast Asian Digital Archive: https://umlseada.omeka.net/collections/show/7.
George Chigas was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Greek parents and grew up in Lowell and Chelmsford. His initial involvement with the Cambodian community came through Lowell's Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association (CMAA) in 1985 as a volunteer and then staff member. He married Thida Loeung, a woman from the local Cambodian community, in the same year. His account of their relationship and marriage ceremony is described in his oral history located at the Center for Lowell History as well as his chapbook of poems, Chanthy’s Garden, published in 1987 by Loom Press.
In the late 1980s, Chigas worked at Lowell’s International Institute helping with refugee resettlement and then in the Philippines at the Philippine Refugee Processing Center. He also spent time at the Thailand/Cambodia border refugee camps such as Khao I Dang and Site Two.
Chigas has advanced degrees from Cornell University and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London. He was previously a manager at the Angkor Dance Troupe and Associate Director of the Cambodian Genocide Program at Yale University. Chigas is currently an associate teaching professor in Asian Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, where he teaches courses on Cambodian Language and Culture.
Chigas’ publications include an English translation of the Cambodian verse novel, The Story of Tum Teav; a book, Cambodia’s Lament: A Selection of Cambodian Writing; and numerous articles, including “Cambodia's lost literary life,” published in 2016 and “Bearing Witness to Cambodia’s Horror, 20 Years After Pol Pot’s Death,” published in 2018.
Information gathered from the University of Massachusetts Lowell website, the Chigas oral history, LFP TR-R022, at the Center for Lowell History, and from conversations with George Chigas.
Series I. Cambodian Traditional Crafts and Religious Ceremonies Collection, 1987
Box 1:
This series includes an 84-page manuscript with accompanying photographs. The 84-page manuscript has nine chapters. Most chapters have written text as well as accompanying photographs to illustrate the Cambodian crafts or religious ceremonies in the Greater Lowell area. The chapter titled ‘Folklore’ is a transcript of an oral history interview conducted by Chigas with Venerable Sao Khon about literature and folklore. Heng Bun Chea serves as an interpreter in this interview. The chapters on the Rain Retreat Ceremony and the Money Tree Fundraising Celebration are comprised entirely of photographs.
The photographs are approximately 3.5” x 5” print color photographs and are organized alphabetically by chapter title: Basket Making, Consecration of Buddha Statue, Kite Making, Money Tree Fund Raising Celebration, Needlework, Ordination of Novice Monk, Rain Retreat Ceremony (VOSSA), and Woodworking.
Series 2. Southeast Asian Exhibit Photographs, 1988-1989
Box 2:
This series of photographs is from an exhibit featuring three artists at the Whistler House Museum in 1988 and/or 1989 and was coordinated by Chigas. The photograph, “The Craftsman – Carving” was taken by Chigas. The two other photographers in the series include Nate Thayer, a freelance journalist noted for having interviewed Pol Pot, and James Higgins, a Lowell area-based photographer and co-owner of the business Higgins & Ross Photography + Design.
The photographs are approximately 11” x 14” print black and white photographs as well a few print color photographs. The photographs are organized alphabetically by title although the origins of the titles are unknown.
Note: A couple of the color photographs in this series depict the aftermath of violent events and viewers should take caution.
University of Massachusetts Lowell Southeast Asian Digital Archive Related Collections, https://www.uml.edu/Research/SEA-digital-archive/related-collections.aspx
Part of the collection is also available at Smithsonian Leaning Lab: The Southeast Asian Digital Archive at UMass Lowell, https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/cambodian-traditional-crafts-and-religious-ceremonies/jLttHicXRuCn4WXr#r
A similar collection has also been donated to and digitized by UMass Amherst, http://scua.library.umass.edu/ead/mums180.
For more information about the SEADA, please visit our home page at www.uml.edu/seada, or email us at seada@uml.edu.
