Samip Mallick is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of SAADA, the South Asian American Digital Archive. SAADA is an independent non-profit organization based in Philadelphia and working nationally to give voice to South Asian Americans through documenting, preserving and sharing stories that reflect their unique and diverse experiences. Over the last 6 years since SAADA's founding in 2008, it has assembled the largest publicly accessible collection of materials related to the experiences of South Asians in the United States. All of the stories and materials  collected are made freely accessible online through their website at http://www.saadigitalarchive.org

We started SAADA because we recognized that South Asian American stories weren't being systematically documented and preserved by any other existing archives, museums or other heritage institutions. Our fear was that over time these stories representing an important aspect of the American narrative would be lost be lost entirely. My background is in computer science, and SAADA's other co-founder, Michelle Caswell, has a background in archival studies, so we thought about the ways that we could combine our training in technology and archives to create a powerful new model for documenting and preserving community history. Our model is called a digital-only, post-custodial model, which means that we don't take physical custody over archival materials, but instead work closely with community members, organizations and other institutions to digitize, digitally preserve and provide access to materials online. We've found that this opens up incredible possibilities for collaboration and allows us to focus on the use, awareness and education about these historical materials.

One of the first collections that we digitized was donated by the Watumull family, one of the first South Asian families to settle in Hawaii. Jhamandas Watumull grew up in Hyderabad (in what is now Pakistan), arrived in Hawaii in 1914 and set up a small retail store selling imported goods from Asia. From one small store, he and his family eventually established a major retail operation. But, perhaps even more remarkable has been the impact the family has made through their philanthropy. As early as the 1940s, the Watumull Foundation supported students to come from India to further their education in the United States including, for example, S. Radhakrishnan, the first Vice President of India. We were fortunate that the family allowed us to digitize some of their family photographs, letters and other archival materials, which are now also available online through our website. However, this is just one of the many incredible stories from South Asian American history that we continue to know far too little about.

One of the most fascinating aspects of learning about the immigrant experience for me personally has been discovering the ways that people from such varying and diverse backgrounds can share common experiences of arriving in the United States. Last year we launched a project to capture stories about South Asian immigrants' first day in the United States. This is a project that came about very organically, because in talking with community members they would often share their story about their first day in the country with us. Even if it was a day that it was 20, 30, 40 or 50 years ago, it is a day that they would often remember very vividly. We realized that these are the very kinds of stories that don't get captured elsewhere, so we launched a project to collect these stories and share them with the world, called SAADA's First Days Project. We've received more than 100 submissions already and continue to get stories to this day and the project was covered by NPR, the BBC World Service and by publications both in the U.S. and South Asia. 

I'm not an immigrant myself, since I was born and brought up in this country, but my parents immigrated from India. My father came in 1967 and my mother a few years later, in 1970. It was a great experience for me to interview my parents for the project and we realized also that this project creates new possibilities for intergenerational dialogue and allows us to have some of those conversations that we always intend to have, but that often we don't.

You can browse the first day stories and submit your own through our website at http://www.saadigitalarchive.org/firstdays

SAADA is a start-up non-profit organization, so I'd say that for me there still isn't an average day. I left my position at the University of Chicago in 2012 to become our organization's first full-time staff member. Each day I work closely with our dedicated board members, volunteers, interns and supporters to help build the organization, collect new stories, and think about new ways to connect these histories with the public.

When we first started we would often reach out to those who we knew had interesting stories and materials to share. Over time, we've been fortunate that more and more people have come to know about our work and are approaching us. Now our role is also to think of creatively about how to create the space for these important stories from our community to be shared with the world and preserved for future generations.

As an independent community-based non-profit organization we rely on support from the community and those who believe in the importance of the past to help support our work. In fact, more than 95% of our funding comes from individuals who believe in SAADA's mission and make a financial contribution. I see us as being at the starting point of building an institution that will curate and care for our community's stories for the long term. 

There are three ways that Lokvani readers can help. The first is to contribute a story. Take a look at the First Days Project and contribute your own story, or that of a family member or friend. Second, please share these stories with others. If you see a story on our website that interests you, please tell others about it. You can also connect with us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/SAADAonline) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/SAADAonline). Third, donate. As I mentioned, the vast majority of our support comes from individual donors. So, if you believe in this work, please help us continue it by making a donation athttp://www.saadigitalarchive.org/donate

While in Boston, I will be speaking at Simmons College, Tufts University and MIT. I look forward to the opportunity to meeting your readers at one of these events!