Lew, Margaret, Part 1

File — Container: Fall 2016

Staff Only

Margaret "Margie" Lew's Oral History, part 1

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Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

When the first interviews were being conducted in 2016, the collection was originally entitled the Chinese American Oral History Project. In 2023, the collection changed to its’ current title, Asian American Pacific Islander Oral History Project to be more inclusive towards interviewers who are not Chinese. In 2018, the project was sponsored by the Chinese American Engineers and Scientists Association of Southern California Scholarship Foundation, and interviewed members of the organization, as well as some of their spouses. In 2019, the interviews returned to focusing on community members who identify as AAPI.

Dates

Creation: Majority of material found in 2016-2019

Extent

From the Collection: 182 Gigabytes

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

Abstract

Margaret "Margie" Doris Lew introduces herself as the only one of her siblings born and raised in San Francisco, not meeting her family until she was 19 years old. Lew describes meeting her Los Angeles-born husband Albert Lew at Chinese Servicemen's Night at the San Francisco Chinatown YWCA where she lived and worked, and exchanging love letters while he was deployed on a hospital ship during World War II. Lew shares about her marriage, two children, and move to Los Angeles, elaborating upon her employment as a clerk typist at Los Angeles City Hall and the construction of the Lews' house in Hillside Village. She mentions her passion for crafts, domestic travel, and teaching literacy at the Chinatown Branch Library. The interview concludes with her reflections on historical events in Los Angeles and observations about demographic changes in Southern California.