The Viet Museum ( vi, Viện Bảo Tàng Việt Nam) or the Museum of the Boat People & the Republic of Vietnam is a museum focusing on the experience of

Vietnamese American Vietnamese Americans ( vi, Người Mỹ gốc Việt, lit=Viet-origin American people) are Americans of Vietnamese ancestry. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American ethnic group after Chinese ...

s and their journey from

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It is located in Greenwalt House, a historical home relocated to

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 (decade). Since its inauguration in 1971, 32 historic buildings and other landma ...

in San Jose,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, United States, and was opened on August 25, 2007. 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. Planning for the Museum began in 1976, taking over 30 years to realize. It is believed to be the only museum in the world to exhibit artifacts related to the Vietnamese diaspora. The Viet Museum's collections focus on three periods: *1950–1975: The

Republic of Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of t ...

and the War in the name of Freedom *1975–1996: The "

Boat People Vietnamese boat people ( vi, Thuyền nhân Việt Nam), also known simply as boat people, refers to the refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its h ...

" and the quest for Freedom *1975–2007: Vietnamese Americans today and the building of Liberty

References

External links

Viet Museum official sitephotoViet Museum photo
Museums established in 2007 South Vietnam Vietnamese-American history Vietnamese-American culture in California Vietnamese migration Vietnamese refugees Museums in San Jose, California Ethnic museums in California 2007 establishments in California {{SanJoseCA-struct-stub