Museum of Chinese in the Americas

The Museum of Chinese in the Americas (MoCA) is the first full-time professionally staffed museum dedicated to reclaiming, preserving, and interpreting the history and culture of Chinese and their descendants in the Western Hemisphere. Founded in 1980 as the New York Chinatown History Project, it changed its name to Chinatown History Museum in 1991, and in 1995, to the Museum of Chinese in the Americas. MoCA now celebrates its 20th anniversary with a name that reflects its national scope and mission.

MoCA is nestled in the heart of America’s largest Chinatown, located on the second floor of an historic, century-old school building. Through an ongoing and historical dialogue that shapes MoCA’s collections, programs and exhibitions, people of all backgrounds are able to explore the diversity and complexity of our history and culture, while gaining unique access to the images, papers, oral histories and artifacts which document the story.

At the Museum by Jason Wiggins

The Museum of Chinese in the Americas is a small museum on a hard to find corner of Chinatown, in the building on the corner of Mullbery and Bayard Streets which doesn’t have a storefront on the ground floor. The only sign indicating that there is a museum is inside the building next to the stairway.

The museum’s permanent exhibit has two main features, a CD-ROM slideshow on the history of Chinatown and a CD recording, “Sharing Our Lives” made by the museum’s Student Advisory Committee (SAC), and including stories told by Asian-American high school students about their experiences. Temporary exhibits include which have art by Asian-American artists. If you’re interested in Asian-American culture this museum is definitely worth checking out.

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