Abstract
This thesis presents the results of initial cataloging efforts and ceramic artifact analysis for the 1979 legacy archaeological collection from the former Chinatown district in Boise, Idaho (1870–1970). Although it was an integral part of the city’s social and economic fabric for more than a century and a focal point of Chinese communities in southern Idaho, nearly all of Boise’s Chinatown district has been erased through urban renewal. This historical erasure has been compounded by the fact that the only archaeological collection from the former district (site 10AA146) was incompletely analyzed, not comprehensively cataloged, and the results never fully published. This thesis uses a transnational and diasporic lens to examine cultural exchange and migrant resiliency in relation Boise Chinatown’s ceramic assemblage, historical documents, and oral histories to enrich our knowledge of early Chinese American history in southern Idaho.