Amy Tan archive lands at UC Berkeley, offering a bird’s-eye view of a singular literary life

In her latest book, The Backyard Bird Chronicles, acclaimed author Amy Tan spends countless hours observing and documenting the wild birds that visit her Bay Area home. 

Researchers soon will be able to direct a similar measure of attention to Tan’s literary life, thanks to the acquisition of her archive by The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. 

“They are mementoes of my life: what I thought, what I loved, who I loved, what I believed, what I lost — all the moments that led to who I am, which is always evolving,” Tan said of the archive.

She also noted her reluctance to share its contents — which she began to be asked about shortly after she was publicized — for reasons of privacy, self-consciousness and the fear that scholars would analyze her through too narrow a lens.

Ultimately, Tan said she came around on the idea, in part because of her trust in the The Bancroft Library. “While I cannot say what is typical in a press release — ‘I’m thrilled and honored’ — I am indeed deeply grateful that people care so much about what went into my writing,” she said.

The Amy Tan archive, which came to UC Berkeley in 62 boxes, is an extraordinary record of the author’s singular literary career and personal life. It contains drafts and manuscripts of Tan’s published works, including her career-defining novel, The Joy Luck Club.

Among other significant items, the archive holds Tan’s personal journals spanning several decades, correspondence with other writers and historical family photographs. There is also a substantive amount of unpublished and never-before-seen writing, including works she created during childhood.

Materials related to the development of The Backyard Bird Chronicles, such as notebooks of sketches and book drafts, also feature prominently in the archive. Published in April 2024, the instant bestseller is a journal and quasi-field guide, complete with Tan’s vibrant watercolor paintings of birds. Tan annotates many of the drawings, giving voice to her specimens with a characteristic blend of gentle humor and philosophical musing. 

In Bancroft’s gallery, some of these stunning original art pieces are on display through June in an exhibition, Amy Tan’s Backyard Birds. The exhibit originated at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute in Jamestown, New York.  

Soaring research potential 

Tan burst onto the literary scene in 1989 with the publication of The Joy Luck Club. The multigenerational tale, inspired by her experiences in the Bay Area’s Asian American communities, was adapted as a film in 1993. She is the author of five other novels, The Kitchen God’s Wife (1991), The Hundred Secret Senses (1995), The Bonesetter’s Daughter (2001), Saving Fish from Drowning (2005) and The Valley of Amazement (2013), as well as several works of nonfiction — including The Backyard Bird Chronicles (2024) — and two children’s books.

Among many accolades, she has been a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award and a recipient of the Commonwealth Club Gold Medal and the Carl Sandburg Literary Award. She was awarded a 2021 National Humanities Medal and inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2022. 

Tan took courses toward a doctorate in linguistics at UC Berkeley in the 1970s. Her literary work now comes home to the campus as a boon for members of its academic community. 

“Amy Tan is one of the most critically acclaimed and beloved voices in American literature today,” said Kate Donovan, Bancroft’s director. “Her work has added immeasurably to the country’s literary landscape.

“This collection will prove a rich and rewarding one for students and scholars. And it also highlights one of the great strengths of Bancroft’s collections — the deep diversity and community of writers in California and the American West.” 

The collection will be made available to the public after archivists process and catalog the materials, Donovan added, a project that likely will take about two years. As is the case with all Bancroft collections, visitors will be able to access the materials held on-site in the library’s Reading Room.

Researchers and the public can also request access to off-site materials, which will be delivered to campus within several days. The archive came to the library through manuscript dealer Kenan Minkoff at George Robert Minkoff Inc. A portion of the archive was purchased, and the rest was donated by Tan. 

“Amy’s novels speak for themselves,” said Sandra Dijkstra, Tan’s agent. “But these papers will provide new insights and analyses going forward.”

Beyond its obvious benefits for those interested in literature and the writing process, the archive holds immense potential for those studying the Bay Area’s Chinese communities.

An especially rich and moving part of the collection concerns Tan’s family history, including materials documenting her parents’ immigration story and early years in the U.S. Scores of photographs provide a window into Chinese and Chinese American life in Berkeley and Oakland in the late 1940s and ’50s.

The archive also holds pocket diaries by her father, John Tan, from the ’50s and ’60s that were largely written in Chinese.

In good company

For David Faulds, Bancroft’s curator of rare books and literary manuscripts, the archive bolsters the library’s already strong collection of work by prominent writers — especially those with ties to the Bay Area. Bancroft is home to the papers of writers and artists including Etel Adnan, Gwendolyn Brooks, Joan Didion, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, David Lance Goines, Thom Gunn, Jessica Hagedorn, Ted Joans, Maxine Hong Kingston, Michael McClure, Thomas Sanchez, Mark Twain, Yoshiko Uchida and ruth weiss.

“We have heavy use … by undergraduate and graduate students, but researchers also come from around the world to use our literary archives,” Faulds said. “So I think there’s a lot of strong research potential for this collection, from a global perspective, as well.”

Faulds also noted that the Tan archive is remarkably comprehensive, focusing on everything from her art to her family life. It contains a mix of paper and digital materials, in part due to Tan’s early adoption of word processing and computers. 

Another highlight of the archive is documentation of Tan’s time in the Rock Bottom Remainders, a “literary rock band” whose members have included luminaries such as Stephen King, Dave Barry, Mitch Albom, and Barbara Kingsolver. Tan continues to sing in the band. 

Several of Tan’s works have been adapted for film and television. She even made a cameo appearance on the TV program The Simpsons. The archive details several of these unique projects. 

“Amy Tan is a giant of the American literary canon with deep connections to the Bay Area,” said University Librarian Suzanne Wones. “This extraordinary collection of materials documenting her artistic work and personal life will now forever remain close to home.”

The Amy Tan’s Backyard Birds exhibit at The Bancroft Library Gallery in Doe Annex runs through June 27. Admission is free. The gallery is generally open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and closed on weekends and holidays.