VIETNAMESE HERITAGE MUSEUM

Vietnamese Heritage Museum (VHM) preserves, honors, and shares the histories of Vietnamese refugees and the broader diaspora so that future generations learn from courage, loss, and the pursuit of freedom. From the “boat people” journeys to reeducation camps and resettlement, we safeguard artifacts and memories that might otherwise be lost—and transform them into learning that builds empathy and civic understanding.

WHAT WE DO
• Collections Stewardship: We care for more than 10,000 artifacts, photographs, documents, and community records. Our work includes inventory, cataloging, conservation, and safe rehousing—beginning with landmark objects like the Freedom Boat, a powerful symbol of the refugee journey.
• Oral History Program: We record bilingual (VI–EN) testimonies—elders and witnesses speaking in their own words—so families, educators, and researchers can access authentic, human-centered narratives.
• Digitization & Open Access: We scan, describe, and publish collections online with ethical metadata standards so the public can learn anywhere. Our emerging Digital Memorial honors 165,000 lives lost in reeducation camps, offering a respectful space for remembrance, research, and healing.
• Education & Field Trips: We design standards-aligned lessons, teacher resources, youth storytelling workshops, and hands-on museum visits. We remove barriers by underwriting buses so students—especially from under-resourced schools—can experience living history.
• Exhibitions & Community Programs: We stage exhibitions, host talks and film screenings, and convene intergenerational dialogues that connect history to the present.
• Partnerships & Research: We collaborate with families, veterans, scholars, cultural institutions, and schools to broaden access and ensure historical accuracy.

WHY IT MATTERS
The generation who lived these histories is aging. Without urgent stewardship, irreplaceable artifacts, photographs, and testimonies will disappear, and the lessons of displacement, resilience, and rebuilding will be harder to teach. VHM fills critical gaps in curricula and public memory by preserving primary sources and making them accessible in culturally sensitive, bilingual formats.

IMPACT SNAPSHOT
• 10,000+ artifacts and archival items under stewardship, with ongoing inventory and cataloging.
• Growing bilingual oral-history collection that centers survivor voices and community knowledge.
• Freedom Boat conservation and exhibition underway to anchor public education and remembrance.
• Student learning supported through museum field trips, classroom kits, and educator training.
• Digital access expanding through online collections and the Digital Memorial initiative.