Viet Museum
Encyclopedia
Vietnamese American
A Vietnamese American is an American of Vietnamese descent. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American group....
s and their journey from Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is located in the historical Kelley Park
Kelley Park
Kelley Park in San Jose, California, USA is 156 acres , including diverse facilities such as Happy Hollow Park & Zoo, the Japanese Friendship Garden, History Park at Kelley Park, Portuguese Historical Museum, and Viet Museum within the history park...
in San Jose
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, United States and was opened on August 25, 2007.photohttp://www.oneviet.com/archives/calendar/2007/08/irccs_viet_museum.php
The museum was created by the San Jose-based nonprofit organization IRCC (Immigrant Resettlement & Cultural Center, Inc.), headed by Vũ Văn Lộc, a former colonel in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
Army of the Republic of Vietnam
The Army of the Republic of Viet Nam , sometimes parsimoniously referred to as the South Vietnamese Army , was the land-based military forces of the Republic of Vietnam , which existed from October 26, 1955 until the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975...
. Planning for the Museum began in 1976, taking over 30 years to realize. The Museum is housed in Greenwald House, in the History Park at Kelley Park
History Park at Kelley Park
History Park at Kelley Park in San Jose, California, USA is designed as an indoor/outdoor museum, arranged to appear as a small US town might have in the early 1900s...
.
The Viet Museum's collections focus on three periods:
- 1950–1975: The Republic of VietnamSouth VietnamSouth Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
and the War in the name of Freedom - 1975–1996: The "Boat People" and the quest for Freedom
- 1975–2007: Vietnamese Americans today and the building of Liberty