The Collected Writings of the Master Archivist

Him Mark Lai (1925-2009) was internationally known as “the dean of Chinese American studies” for his many years as a historian, writer, and community activist. (His accomplishments and contributions to the Asian American community are too numerous to list here; we encourage you to explore the biographies here at the Him Mark Lai Digital Archive for a full recounting of Him Mark’s life and scholarship.)

Laura Lai (1933–2014) was an unsung hero in supporting Him Mark’s work, as well as herself participating within the community. After Him Mark’s passing, Laura continued to contribute to the community and the organizations they helped build (including the CHSA Museum) with her kind spirit and unconditional support. Outgoing and upbeat, Laura enjoyed dramas, music, and good food, especially when shared with friends, all of whom cherished her kindness, warmth, and generosity.

Together, their relationship and their efforts in the Chinese American community laid the foundation for Asian American studies in this country, and their legacy continues in the lives that they touched, including ours. Proof that true love can achieve great things!

Watch this video tribute to Laura Lai by Felicia Lowe, which celebrates the lives of both Laura and Him Mark Lai.

CHSA continues to celebrate the life and contributions of Him Mark Lai. He would have turned 87 years old on November 1, 2012.

According to UC Berkeley’s Professor Ling-chi Wang, Him Mark Lai’s rescue, collecting, cataloguing, preservation, and sharing of historical sources in both Chinese and English opened the field of Chinese American history to scholars and researchers in the US and across the Pacific. Generations of historians and writers have relied, and will continue to draw, upon Him Mark Lai’s insights & prodigious scholarship.博物館繼續慶祝麥禮謙的一生及其貢獻。于2012年11月1號，他年滿87歲。

據加州大學伯克利分校教授王靈智的講述, 麥禮謙對中英文歷史資料的挽救、收集、編目、保存、和共享，打開了在美及太平洋地區的學者和研究者們對美國華人歷史研究的領域。麥禮謙獨特的見解和巨額的獎學金也吸引了一代又一代的歷史學家和作家們對其學術的探討和延續。