Scope and arrangement
The records of the US China Peoples Friendship Association document its activities from the 1970s to the 2000s. The records are divided into administrative files and subject files consisting of correspondence, meeting minutes, financial records, memoranda, reports, photographs, and printed matter. Administrative records include the National Board minutes, 1978-1991. The subject files include records of the regional branches, materials on the annual conventions, on tours and special events arranged by the USCPFA, and membership files.
The US China Peoples Friendship Association records are arranged in two series:
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1970s, 1980-2007
These files consist chiefly of minutes of the National Board. The National Board (known as the National Steering Committee until Oct. 1979) met periodically in different cities throughout the United States. The Board's responsibility was to act as the governing body of the organization. The minutes document relationship of the national organization to its semiautonomous regional groups. The official minutes contains budgets, committee, membership, and regional reports, resolutions passed, reports from committees, agreements with tour companies/travel agencies and convention planning.
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1970s-2013
The Subject files, represents the bulk of the collection. The documents span a wide spectrum of USCPFA activities throughout the United States. A brief overview of the USCPFA may be seen in "Memorandums/Reports and Internal Correspondence" that includes bylaws, committee reports, correspondence, drafts, financial, and minutes. Topics include committee information, beginning an official publication, memoranda for forming a national organization, tour information, statements by candidates running for office in the USCPFA, and related issues of interests. Whereas, these files focus on the internal operations, the files of general correspondence contain letters received from outside the organization.
Of the four regional groups, the Eastern Region files are the most extensive and include sound recordings from a 1989 Eastern Region conference. The Midwest Region is documented mainly through a sampling of newsletters from the Chicago and Detroit chapters. The Southern Region and the Western Region are represented by only a few file in this collection.
The membership files contain minutes of the membership committee, requests for membership, correspondence with the local groups regarding membership, dues, and statistical data collected. National convention files include sound recordings from the 1985 National Convention held in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Files of officers of the USCPFA include those of Director Robert Leeds, President Fred Ptashne, Executive Director Jane C. Leiper, and Treasurer Irving Zuckerman.
One of the most important events in USCPFA history was the visit of Premier Zhao Ziyang (1919-2005) to the United States. The USCPFA cosponsored a dinner on January 11, 1984, with the National Association of Chinese Americans (NACA). The files document preparation for the Zhao dinner including correspondence with interested parties, public relations, and the evaluation of the dinner. The files contain two original menus from the event.
Audiovisual materials in this series include videotapes of the Washington seminar in 1994 and sound recordings of presentations at the 1995 national convention in Minneapolis, the Eastern Regional conference in 1989, and at other USCPFA meetings. Sound and video recordings are unavailable for use at this time pending preservation transfer.