By: Q. Joan Xu, Data Services and Business Librarian
In May 2026, we celebrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month in honor of AANHPI communities’ contributions to American society.
We commemorate two key milestones in the history of Asian Americans. May 7, 1843, marked the arrival of the nation’s first Japanese immigrants. On May 10, 1869, the transcontinental railroad’s completion marked the pivotal role of Chinese workers in its construction. Since then, Asian Americans have continued to contribute to American society through their diligent work, rich cultures, and significant achievements.
According to the , in 2024, the estimated number of Asian alone-or-in-combination residents in the United States was 26.8 million, and 57.7% of those aged 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Image credit: .
The chart shows the U.S. employer and nonemployer businesses and receipts by AANHPI.
In 춹Ƶ Library, we select featured library collections and open resources to celebrate the AANHPI Heritage Month. Our ܾ’s page features selected resources that highlight AANHPI communities’ experiences, cultures, and achievements.
Featured Books
Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2008
“Asian American Art: A History, 1850-1970 is the first comprehensive study of the lives and artistic production of artists of Asian ancestry active in the United States before 1970. The publication features original essays by 10 leading scholars, biographies of more than 150 artists, and over 400 reproductions of artwork, ephemera, and images of the artists.”
New York: Random House Studio, 2025
“When your mother grew up in a Jewish family in New York, and your father grew up in a Hindu family in India, it’s wonderful being part of two cultures and two religions. But “sometimes it can feel a little lonely. Sometimes it can feel as if you’re not enough of one thing or the other. In this poignant story, which is based on author Veera Hiranandani’s own family history… a little girl comes to realize you can feel – and be – many things at once.”
California: Ten Speed Press, 2021
“An accessible and educational illustrated book profiling 50 notable American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian people, from NBA star Kyrie Irving of the Standing Rock Lakota to Wilma Mankiller, the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. Celebrate the lives, stories, and contributions of Indigenous artists, activists, scientists, athletes, and other changemakers in this illustrated collection.”
New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Abrams, 2025
“One spring day, little Midori asks Jiichan, her grandfather, if the peaches on her family’s farm are ripe yet. To her surprise, he asks, ‘Does it taste like a story? That’s when you know it is ripe.’ As Jiichan teaches her about her Japanese American heritage and her family’s deep connection to this land, Midori begins to realize the patience, hard work, and endurance that allowed their roots to grow. Poetic and powerful, Every Peach Is a Story is a journey of discovery through all of life’s seasons.”
New York: Random House, 2022
2023 Newbery Honor Book
“Eleven-year-old Maizy Chen visits her estranged grandparents, who own and run a Chinese restaurant in Last Chance, Minnesota. As her visit lengthens, she makes unexpected discoveries about her family’s history and herself.”
New York: Nancy Paulsen Books, 2024
“There are so many ways to say ‘I love you’ without saying a word! One little girl sees the love in her family in the way they nurture one another through stories, food, and time together. With great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, and siblings around, there are so many ways for love to shine through.”
Digital Archives and Streaming Media & Films
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“Asian American Arts and Media, Inc., collection, which dates from 1982 to 1997 and measures .01 linear feet, documents an early era of Asian American art activism in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. The collection includes flyers, photo postcards, clippings, and newsletters that highlight the organization’s activities aimed at ‘to promote more positive and realistic images of Asian Pacific Americans through the arts and humanities, and to develop a greater appreciation and awareness of Asian Pacific American art forms.’ Among the holdings is a program book from the first Annual Asian American Film Festival cosponsored by Gold Mountain Radio Collective and the Organization of Pan Asian American Women, Inc.”
: “ is a five-hour film series that delivers a bold, fresh perspective on a history that matters today, more than ever. As America becomes more diverse and more divided, while facing unimaginable challenges, how do we move forward together? Told through the intimate, personal lives of its subjects, the series will cast a new lens on U.S. history and the ongoing role that Asian Americans have played in shaping the nation’s story.”
: The NMAH “celebrates AANHPI Heritage Month and America’s 250th Anniversary with films that highlight AANHPI stories that continue to shape American history.” Recognizing the many contributions and rich heritage of AANHPI communities, NMAH has been building its museum collections to “reflect the wide breadth of traditions, experiences, and achievements across these groups.”
“ made significant contributions to experimental physics that helped change what we know about the atomic world.” The museum’s Lemelson Center highlights .
The exhibition “explores the overlooked history of a trailblazing Filipino community in California from the 1910s to the 1970s through twenty-six steamer trunks found in 2005, three of which are on display in the gallery…Featuring over fifty artifacts from the trunks, along with objects loaned from the Filipino American community in Stockton, this exhibition helps us remember the people whose labor contributed to the growth of California’s agricultural industry and paved the way for future generations of Filipino immigrants.”
: “The National Archives holds a wealth of material documenting the Asian and Pacific Islander experience, and it highlights these resources online, in programs, and through traditional and social media.”
“Astronaut Ellison Onizuka’s first space shuttle flight was on Discovery in January 1985. A year later, on January 28, 1986, he was aboard Challenger when it exploded shortly after liftoff, killing all aboard. .”
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings – & : “The Asian Pacific America Series is a musical exploration of multiple generations of diverse experiences. The series includes a broad range of styles, from traditional to popular, highlighting how music connects people to shared senses of history, community, and place. Certain recordings in the series reach toward the formation of a pan-Asian American political identity, while others reflect interethnic experiments in jazz, expressions of faith, contemporary songcraft, and beyond. “
