Idaho State University’s Museum of Natural History to host a series of public lectures April 22-23 in commemoration of Asian and Pacific Americans

The Idaho State University Museum of Natural History will host a series of free public lectures in commemoration of Asian and Pacific Americans by noteworthy experts Priscilla Wegars and Terry Abraham at 7 p.m. April 22-23 in the College of Education Auditorium.

On the April 22, Wegars will present “Imprisoned in Paradise: Japanese Internee Road Workers at the World War II Kooskia Internment Camp.” The work explores the history of the Kooskia Internment Camp, an obscure and virtually-forgotten part of the history of World War II.

In addition to her work on the Kooskia Internment Camp, Wegars also edited “Hidden Heritage: Historical Archaeology of the Overseas Chinese” published in 1993, and founded the Asian American Comparative Collection in the Laboratory of Anthropology at the University of Idaho.

She has conducted extensive research into the history of the Chinese and Japanese in the Northwest, has directed several archaeological survey and excavation projects of Chinese sites in Oregon and Idaho, and has led numerous classes and tour groups to Chinese historic sites in the West.

On April 23, Abraham will present “Exploring the Chinese Funerary Customs in Idaho and the West.”

A native of Oregon, Abraham has lived in Idaho since 1970. Now retired from the University of Idaho Library, he is the recipient of the Idaho State Historical Society’s Esto Perpetua award. Author of “Mountains So Sublime: Nineteenth-Century British Travellers and the Lure of the Rocky Mountain West” published in 2006. He is the editor of “Chinese Servants in the West: Florence Baillie-Grohman’s ‘The Yellow and White Agony’” published in 2007.

Asian and Pacific Americans make up more than 5 percent of the U.S. population – more than 17 million people – and those numbers are growing. Their ancestral roots represent more than 50 percent of the world, extending from East Asia to Southeast Asia, and from South Asia to the Pacific Islands and Polynesia.

For more information about the lectures and events, visit the IMNH website at http://imnh.isu.edu/home/ or contact Robert Schlader, schlrobe@isu.edu or 282-5420.