Lai Ying Yu

Lai Ying Yu has been a part-time office manager at the Chinese Historical Society of New England (CHSNE) since August 2005. According to its mission statement, “CHSNE is a non-profit organization established in 1992 to document, preserve, and promote the history and legacy of Chinese immigration to New England.

Yu’s responsibilities at CHSNE include organizing collections material, coordinating program events and projects, and general office duties. The organization is currently working on the “Mount Hope Memorial Project,” at Mount Hope Cemetery, she said. The memorial will be a 13-foot high altar made of granite, steel and concrete to honor deceased Chinese ancestors.

Another one of CHSNE’s current projects is the Chinese-American Women’s Oral Project, said Yu. CHSNE has partnered with The Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College’s research library on the history of women in America, to document the lives and stories of Chinese-American women living in New England. The project is primarily interested in Chinese-American women who have lived or worked in New England before 1965, said Yu. The Chinese-American Women’s project is aimed at preserving the stories and heritage of these women in their own words. Yu organizes the material and stories collected from the women, and has helped put the collections into the format that will be viewed by the public, she said.

In addition to her role at the CHSNE, Yu was previously an “organizer” at the Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC.) She helped work on the potential housing development Parcel 24, for affordable housing in Chinatown. This is an ongoing planning process and construction will begin when the “Big Dig” project is completed.

Ying has also taught adult English education classes to Chinatown community members.

“I think I really connect to Chinatown with the language and culture, and being in the environment,” she said.