Tracing the Roots of Asian Community at Bowdoin

An Ongoing Discourse

REPRESENTASIAN

This exhibit uses archival holdings in the Library’s Special Collections & Archives to explore some of Bowdoin’s earliest Asian students, Asian affinity groups, and the development of the Asian Studies program. Our goal is not to present a definitive history, but to introduce a more holistic history of Bowdoin College and bring to light the Asian students and alumni who are an integral, yet under-acknowledged presence at the College.

Early Asian Students: Mankichi Koibuchi, Non-Graduate Class of 1916

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Mankichi Koibuchi, Non-Graduate Class of 1916

Kazuko Nagaoka’s Mankichi Koibuchi: His Humanity and Life (2009).

After the Great Kantō earthquake and fire of 1923, Koibuchi lost all of his photographs and books from his time in Brunswick. His family knew very little about his experiences in the United States until January 2009, when Koibuchi’s great granddaughter, Kazuko Nagaoka, and her daughter-in-law, Etsuko Nagaoka, visited Bowdoin College to conduct research on his life.

The Tracing the Roots of Asian Community at Bowdoin: An Ongoing Discourse exhibition was conceived by members of RepresentAsian: Bowdoin’s Asian Alumni Association, the first formal entity established to represent the generations of Asian graduates. The group’s principal mission to build the foundations for and diligently maintain the bridges that will give our community the ability to create and sustain meaningful relationships with each other. Benjamin Wu, Class of 2018/2020 and Andrew Park, Class of 2015 reached out and connected with Special Collections & Archives; Amy Cai, Class of 2025 researched and curated the exhibition during the final weeks of her senior year. The exhibit was on view on the first floor of the Hawthorne-Longfellow Library for Commencement and Reunion (May-June) 2025. Special Collections Education and Engagement Librarian, Marieke Van Der Steenhoven and director of Multicultural Alumni Engagement, Joycelyn Blizzard also supported this project and related Reunion events.