About the Project

The "Chinese History Project" of the Washington Township Museum of Local History

This subcommittee was formed in 2018 to provide an organization that would focus on the history of early Chinese immigrants in the Washington Township.

The project was sparked by the "Chinese Bunkhouse Preservation Committee" who wished to know more about the history of the early Chinese workers and neighbors of the Shinn family. This history provides a context for the bunkhouse. Many of the early pioneering Chinese came from the same area and some were from the same extended family.

Records of Chinese immigrants show up in our local archives at least as early as the 1860s. Stories of the early Chinese immigrants are held in many museums, in archives, and in the personal collections of local families

Our Goals

• To bring these stories alive – of immigration, struggle, and success
• To tell these little-known stories to visitors and students
• To create partnerships with families, museums, parks, schools, universities, and other agencies

Our First Exhibit at the Fremont Main Library

"Chinese Roots: Sketches of Life in the Washington Township"

The archives of our historic towns are rich with the stories of immigrants who came before us.

“Chinese Roots” brings to light one group - the early Chinese people whose presence is first recorded around the time of the Gold Rush. Hidden histories have been unearthed – from the accounts of vineyards, orchards, nurseries, farmlands, and the salt and sugar industries. The records are often mere entries in nursery ledgers, in the ranch records of labor hired for harvesting fruit, in the census records, or in the smiles of winery workers at a Warm Springs China Camp. Other records are wonderful robust personal accounts, written about growing up here in the Washington Township – hunting & fishing, high school sports & hijinks, and endless farm work. 

All of these snips and bits make a sketch of life – making connections between the past and present.