Core and Peripheries: Chinese Communities in Southwestern Wyoming, 1869-1922

Summary

Chinese immigrants began to arrive in large numbers in Wyoming Territory in 1869. Archaeological excavations from 1990 to the present are beginning to shed some light on how these immigrants structured their households and communities. We now have a clearer picture as to how scattered nineteenth century Chinese communities in southwestern Wyoming were linked together. The community ties that evolved benefited the immigrants in several ways. Here we will suggest that the household structures that developed in Chinese communities and the linkage systems that emerged between cores and peripheries may have given the immigrants the ability to develop beneficial relationships within households and between communities.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Wyoming Archaeologist 2005

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Marcia Peterson

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