Pacific Northwest History

Books and resources about Pacific Northwest history, including Washington state, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska

The Tacoma Method & Anti-Chinese Sentiment in the PNWpolitical handbill reading: "Chinese? No! no! no!" includes info about a meeting to discuss the chinese question, 1897

"The cry is here that the Chinese must go. I say that they should not go: that they can not go; will not go. More than this, that, were it conceivable that they went, your State would be ruined; in a word, that the Chinese population of the Pacific Coast have become indispensable to its continued prosperity, and that you cannot afford to part with them upon any consideration."

An excerpt from a letter addressing the 'Chinese Question' written by Kwang Chang Ling in September of 1878

(click on image to enlarge - citation below)

Featured Websites & Online Collections

Covered here are largely just sources about Chinese immigration to the area. There is a page in this guide looking at Japanese Americans, but our guide is still growing to address other Asian groups and their role in shaping the PNW. 

Tacoma Chinese Reconciliation Park 

Featured Articles

Background Articles 

The articles linked below come from a couple of places. First, many are from subject-specific encyclopedias in the library's collection, and others are from online, from such websites as HistoryLink - a great PNW-focused website. They are good for finding definitions and a general overview of a topic.


Popular Source Articles

Linked below are articles from newspapers, magazines, and other popular news websites, as well as from the library's collection.


Scholarly Articles

Featured Videos

Linked below are films, both full documentary/education films or film segments, as well as shorter videos from the library's collection and on the web.

Source: "Tacoma Method" by CityofTacoma , is licensed under a Standard YouTube License.

Featured Podcasts

Source Citations:

“Letters of Kwang Chang Ling: The Chinese Side of the Chinese Question”. (2014). In M. Y. Danico (Ed.), Asian American Society: An Encyclopedia (Vol. 3, pp. 1100-1119). SAGE Reference. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX6500000354

Chinese? No! No! No! (Edward N. Fuller Collection, Comp.) [Handbill]. (1892). https://www.washingtonhistory.org

Featured Books & eBooks

Click on the book, or title, below to learn more

Looking for articles from newspapers, magazines, and journals?

Remember to click on the Articles in the TCC Databases tab located in this guide to see a list of suggested databases. There you can find articles about the history of the Pacific Northwest. And be sure to check the other tabs in this guide, such as the People Groups & Immigration or Trade, Industry & Transportation for more Tacoma/Pierce County-related articles on a variety of topics.

Related guide

Find additional resources on the following linked guide.

CC BY SA license

Except where otherwise noted, the content in these guides by Tacoma Community College Library is licensed under CC BY SA 4.0.
This openly licensed content allows others to cite, share, or modify this content, with credit to TCC Library. When reusing or adapting this content, include this statement in the new document: This content was originally created by Tacoma Community College Library and shared with a CC BY SA 4.0 license.

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