May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and is a celebration of the culture, traditions, and history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States. Across the country there will be numerous events and programs for people to attend and participate in, including right here at the Smithsonian.  In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the Archives presents the following slideshow.

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Mr. Ikawa, Japanese astronomer

Mr. Ikawa, Japanese astronomer, Accession 90-105 - Science Service, Records, 1920s-1970s, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Neg. no. SIA2008-4259.

Hong-Yee Chiu (b. 1932), Chinese-American astrophysicist

Chinese-American astrophysicist Hong-Yee Chiu (b. 1932) is credited with coining the term "quasar" in 1964. Copyright: NASA, Accession 90-105 - Science Service, Records, 1920s-1970s, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Neg. no. SIA2008-0238.

George Gunn, John Foster, George Jimenez, T. L. Shang, Victor de Mattos Cardoso

American Pacific Industrial Corporation - T.L. Shang, who was with the Chinese Aeronautical Commission, an early Chinese Air Force type organization, founded by Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, and connected with Claire Chennault's American Volunteer Group-Flying Tigers. Accession 90-105 - Science Service, Records, 1920s-1970s, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Neg. no. SIA2008-1644.

Biochemist and bacteriologist Ruby Hirose

Biochemist and bacteriologist Ruby Hirose researched serums and antitoxins at the William S. Merrell Laboratories. In 1940, Hirose was among ten women recognized by the American Chemical Society for accomplishments in chemistry, and later made major contributions to the development of vaccines against infantile paralysis. Accession 90-105 - Science Service, Records, 1920s-1970s, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Neg. no. SIA2008-3224.

Mitsuhara Ishikawa, Japanese botanist and plant collector

Mitsuhara Ishikawa was a Japanese botanist and plant collector. He was photographed while attending the International Congress of Plant Sciences, Cornell University, August 16-23, 1926, and is holding a copy of the program. Accession 90-105 - Science Service, Records, 1920s-1970s, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Neg. no. SIA2008-4281.

T. Imaseki

T. Imaseki was one of two official Japanese delegates to the First International Congress of Soil Science, June 1927, Washington, D.C. Accession 90-105 - Science Service, Records, 1920s-1970s, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Neg. no. SIA2008-4284.

Dr. Kouhei Fukuda, Japanese postdoctural fellow at the University of Pittsburgh

The University of Pittsburgh team that was working towards the synthesis of insulin, 1963. With (at right) team leader Dr. Panayotis G. Katsoyannis, associate professor of biochemistry in the school of medicine; (left to right) Dr. Kouhei Fukuda, Japanese postdoctural fellow studying at Pitt, and Andrew Tometsko, an American graduate student, October 14, 1963. Accession 90-105 - Science Service, Records, 1920s-1970s, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Neg. no. SIA2008-4571.

Hideyuki Kikuchi, Japanese scientist

Mr. Hideyuki Kikuchi, the Japanese scientist who turned iron-sand into 99.7% pure iron in less than five minutes. Accession 90-105 - Science Service, Records, 1920s-1970s, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Neg. no. SIA2008-4793.

Kitasato Shibasaburō (1853-1931), Japanese physician and bacteriologist

Kitasato Shibasaburō (1853-1931), Japanese physician and bacteriologist. Accession 90-105 - Science Service, Records, 1920s-1970s, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Neg. no. SIA2008-4865.

Dr. Waro Nakahara (1896-1976)

Dr. Waro Nakahara graduated from Cornell University with a PhD in Biology in 1918. He began his career at the Rockefeller Institute conducting research in tumor immunology. In 1934 he was appointed Chief of the Pathology Division, Cancer Institute, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, in what would be a career long dedication to cancer research. Accession 90-105 - Science Service, Records, 1920s-1970s, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Neg. no. SIA2009-0452.

Anna Chao Pai (b. 1935)

Anna Chao Pai was a predoctoral student in the Department of Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, working with Dr. Salome Waelsch on developmental genetics and cross-breeding special strains of mice. Chao immigrated to the United States in 1940 with her family and graduated from Sweet Briar College in 1957. Copyright: Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Accession 90-105 - Science Service, Records, 1920s-1970s, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Neg. no. SIA2009-0795.

Dr. Toyosaku Minagawa, Japanese biochemist and enzymologist

Dr. Toyosaku Minagawa, Japanese biochemist and enzymologist. Copyright: Camera Hawaii, Honolulu. Accession 90-105 - Science Service, Records, 1920s-1970s, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Neg. no. SIA2009-0924.

Yumiko Gillepsie and Kaoru Fukumoto, NMNH Foreign Language Tour Guides

National Museum of Natural History Foreign Language Tour Guides, including Yumiko Gillepsie, Japanese, and Kaoru Fukumoto, Japanese. Other docents in the program but not in the picture are Toshiko Takeuchi, Japanese; Teiko Hirasawa, Japanese, 1976. Record Unit 371 - Office of Public Affairs, The Torch, 1955-1960, 1965-1988, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Neg. no. 2009-3229.

Dr. Li-chi Tai

Dr. Li-chi Tai of China, who pursued advanced studies at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, under a grant provided by the American Chemical Society through the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Dr. Tai was associated with the Iron and Steel Division of the Chinese National Resources Commission. Accession 90-105 - Science Service, Records, 1920s-1970s, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Neg. no. SIA2009-4041.

Dr. Robert Kho-Seng Lim

Dr. Robert Kho-Seng Lim, Director of the Chinese Medical Relief Corps since the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese hostilities in 1937, received much of his support from United China Relief. He was a former professor of Physiology at the Rockefeller-Endowed peiping Union Medical Hospital, May 23, 1942. Accession 90-105 - Science Service, Records, 1920s-1970s, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Neg. no. SIA2010-2217.

Related Resources

• Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2013 Events Calendar - Smithsonian Institution
• Asian Pacific American Heritage Teaching Resources - Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access

Related Collections

• Accession 90-105 - Science Service, Records, 1920s-1970s, Smithsonian Institution Archives

In addition to earning a Ph.D. in botany from the University of Chicago in 1922 and building a successful career as a journalist at Science Service, Frank Thone (1891-1949) routinely enriched the lives of friends, colleagues, and readers with his irreverent (but relevant) sense of humor.

When the Science Service staff posed for new publicity shots in the 1940s, Thone and photographer Fremont Davis (who was also the brother of Thone's boss) could not help constructing this special "perspective" on the relationship between species.

Frank Ernest Aloysius Thone was born in Davenport, Iowa, on April 12, 1891. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Grinnell College, Thone tried university teaching for a few years after finishing his doctoral studies but soon found his true calling as a writer, joining the Science Service staff in 1924. He became one of a small but growing cadre of well-educated men and women establishing a new profession: journalists who write exclusively about the world of science.

Wry comments punctuate Thone's correspondence preserved throughout the Smithsonian Institution Archives collections. One of my favorites, in Record Unit 7091 - Science Service, Records, circa 1910-1963, involved a response to a reader who complained that a news story had described the Mississippi River as "muddy." Thone’s two-page letter to Alice L. Braunwarth Halstead (August 9, 1932) presented hydrology data on comparative particle rates in other American rivers and concluded with this comic crescendo: "It's my river just as it is yours, and I love it and am proud of it. I recognize its muddiness in a purely factual way, just as I make no bones about having a big nose or red hair. It's something that calls for neither bragging nor apologies."

Thone’s syndicated "Nature Ramblings" column offered lively observations about life on earth and drew on his experiences during the early 1920s as a seasonal naturalist in Yellowstone National Park, as well as his scientific expertise, but he could never hide his passion for conservation. He said that one of the first organizations he joined in Washington was the Wild Flower Preservation Society because he advocated a "square deal" for "our native species."

Happy Earth Day to all species—flora, fauna, and flies!

Related Collections

• Record Unit 7091 - Science Service, Records, circa 1910-1963, Smithsonian Institution Archives
• Accession 90-105, Science Service, Records, 1920s-1970s, Smithsonian Institution Archives