MOCA’s Collections and Research Center, now located at a new state-of-the-art facility at 3 Howard Street, archivally preserves and provides research access to the museum’s vast collection of 85,000+ objects and 2,000+ linear feet of materials documenting New York Chinatown and Chinese American history.

While archives and conservation staff continue to focus on the work necessary to recover from the damage of a devastating fire to MOCA’s archives at 70 Mulberry Street, the Collections & Research Center, now located at 3 Howard Street, strives to provide robust remote research services and is open to in-person research on a limited basis Mondays-Thursdays 10 am – 5 pm by prior appointment only. For assistance with research-related questions or to request in-person research access to MOCA’s archives, please email MOCA’s Collections Department at collections@mocanyc.org, and include a brief description of your research and any requests of specific collections or materials you would like to view.

To facilitate research and use of our collections, our staff is constantly updating and expanding our remotely searchable and accessible catalogs of artifacts, photographs, journals, books, documents, and oral histories from MOCA’s extensive collection. We encourage researchers to search and browse our collections cataloged online on MOCA’s PastPerfect, ArchivesSpace, and OHMS databases. We also encourage following the latest information on New Acquisitions about recently acquired collections and Collection Highlights featuring research-based stories about objects in our collection.