<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ead xmlns="urn:isbn:1-931666-22-9" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="urn:isbn:1-931666-22-9 http://www.loc.gov/ead/ead.xsd"><eadheader countryencoding="iso3166-1" dateencoding="iso8601" langencoding="iso639-2b" repositoryencoding="iso15511"><eadid countrycode="US" mainagencycode="US-NNC-RB" url="https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/cul-in00034287806">in00034287806</eadid><filedesc><titlestmt><titleproper>Chinese Labor in the Americas, 1868-1910<num>in00034287806</num></titleproper></titlestmt><publicationstmt><publisher>Rare Book and Manuscript Library</publisher><p id="logostmt"><extref xlink:actuate="onLoad" xlink:href="https://aspace.library.columbia.edu/assets/columbia.png" xlink:show="embed" xlink:type="simple"/></p><address><addressline>Butler Library, 6th Floor</addressline><addressline>Columbia University, Mail Code 1127</addressline><addressline>535 W. 114th St.</addressline><addressline>New York, NY 10027</addressline><addressline>Business Number: (212) 854-5153</addressline><addressline>Fax Number: (212) 854-1365</addressline><addressline>rbml@libraries.cul.columbia.edu</addressline><addressline>URL: <extptr xlink:href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/rbml/index.html" xlink:show="new" xlink:title="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/rbml/index.html" xlink:type="simple"/></addressline></address></publicationstmt></filedesc><profiledesc><creation>This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on <date>2026-07-22 20:23:05 -0400</date>.</creation><langusage>Description is written in: <language langcode="eng" scriptcode="Latn">English, Latin script</language>.</langusage></profiledesc></eadheader><archdesc level="collection">
  <did>
    <repository>
      <corpname>Rare Book and Manuscript Library</corpname>
    </repository>
    <unittitle>Chinese Labor in the Americas, 1868-1910</unittitle>
    <unitid>in00034287806</unitid>
    <unitid>MS#2250</unitid>
    <langmaterial>
      <language langcode="eng" scriptcode="Latn">English</language>
    </langmaterial>
    <unitid type="aspace_uri">/repositories/2/resources/7387</unitid>
    <physdesc altrender="whole">
      <extent altrender="materialtype spaceoccupied">0.10 linear feet</extent>
      <extent altrender="carrier">5 documents and 6 photographs.</extent>
    </physdesc>
    <unitdate calendar="gregorian" datechar="creation" era="ce" normal="1868/1910" type="inclusive">1868-1910</unitdate>
  </did>
  <scopecontent id="aspace_4a308bd7bf945eecc8bcc40fea96da9e">
    <head>Content Description</head>
<p>This collection consists of five indenture records of Chinese labors in Cuba, as well as a small photo archive depicting indigenous and Chinese Indentured Labor in Panama and Ecuador. The photos document Hat Production in the year 1910.</p>  </scopecontent>
  <bioghist id="aspace_5f98761bc92e8d2308dd8e0f52e27b7f">
    <head>Biographical / Historical</head>
<p>The Cuban indentured servant contracts document the state administration of Chinese indenture in western Cuba. They record the municipal enforcement of Cuban contract labor rules for Asian migrants under the post 1860 regulatory system that governed wages, discipline, illness, food, and flight. The documents record not an abstract policy but its town-level execution. 
The Panama hat manufacturing photo archive documenting handmade straw production, workshop labor, and export circulation in South America, with indigenous local and Chinese indentured laborers in 1910. The majority of the photographs depict Chinese laborers working alongside local makers, including women and children, and traders, placing the archive within the longer history of Chinese migration to Latin America after the nineteenth century, when indentured and contract labor systems moved Chinese workers into plantation, transport, port, and commercial economies across the region. In the hat trade, that larger history intersected with established local and indigenous weaving traditions through the harvesting of fiber, hand-braiding and shaping of hats, workshop sorting, and shipment outward through coastal and port networks. Panama hats were sold to a growing Western tourist market, while the behind-the-scenes production networks transformed local tradition into migrant labor and obscured both the hats' South American origins and the people whose skill sustained the trade.</p>  </bioghist>
  <accessrestrict id="aspace_83c313374ef3341f573d780ad1c27a8e">
    <head>Conditions Governing Access</head>
<p>Material is unprocessed. Please contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.</p>  </accessrestrict>
  <dsc/>
</archdesc>
</ead>
