About Save OUR National Archives (SONA)
SONA (Save OUR National Archives) is a broad consortium of non-profit organizations and individuals dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of public access and services provided by the regional offices and collections of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
Based in San Francisco with national alliances, SONA originally formed to protest the proposed closure of the thirteen regional national archives in 1998. Its later advocacy efforts from 1998-2009 led to preservation of the Alien Case Files (A-Files) as historical records to be kept permanently at the National Archives. Today, the National Archives maintains A-Files for nearly 2,000,000 19th and 20th century American immigrants at its facilities near San Francisco, CA and Kansas City, MO. The A-Files are an invaluable collection for the descendants of these immigrants, historians, immigration researchers, and genealogists.
SONA Members and Supporters
Reem Awad-Rashmawi, JD, Genealogist and President of the Arab and Arab American Genealogical Society
Lillian Castillo-Speed, Head Librarian, Ethnic Studies Library, University of California, Berkeley
Christopher Chow, former Chair of the Angel Island Immigration Station Historical Advisory Committee, and KPIX CBS 5 reporter (retired)
Anni Chung, President & CEO, Self Help for the Elderly
Henry Der, CAA (Chinese for Affirmative Action) Oral History Project
Grant Din, Genealogist
Lorraine Dong, Professor Emerita, Asian American Studies, San Francisco State University; Past President, Chinese Historical Society of America; Past President, Square and Circle Club
Anna Eng, Lecturer, UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University
Ron S. Filion, Historian, Genealogist, Founder of SFgenealogy.org
Mason Fong, former Sunnyvale City Council Member
Betsy Frederick-Rothwell, Head Archivist, Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley
Marlon K. Hom, Professor Emeritus, Asian American Studies Department, San Francisco State University
Sine Hwang Jensen, Asian American and Comparative Ethnic Studies Librarian, Ethnic Studies Library, University of California, Berkeley
Sara Ishikawa, Professor Emerita, Architecture, University of California, Berkeley
Claire Kluskens, JD, Fellow of the National Genealogical Society, Genealogist
Erika Lee, Professor of History and Faculty Director, Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Harvard University
Marisa Louie Lee, Historical Researcher and Roots program alum
Steven Lee, Associate Professor of English and C.K. Cho Chair of the Center for Korean Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Sue Lee, Former Executive Director, Chinese Historical Society of America (2004-2017)
Yvonne Lee, former National Director, Chinese American Citizens Alliance, former Commissioner, United States Commission on Civil Rights
Ginger Lew, former Senior Counselor, White House National Economic Council
Jennie Lew, Filmmaker
Susie Ling, President, Chinese Historical Society of Southern California
Jeanie Low, Genealogist
Colleen Lye, Chair, Asian American Research Center, University of California, Berkeley
Linda Harms Okazaki, Genealogist
Pamela Storm, Genealogist and founder of SFgenealogy.org
Rosalyn Tonai, Executive Director, National Japanese American Historical Society, Inc.
Eddie Wong, former Executive Director of the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, and editor of East Wind
William Gee Wong, Author of Sons of Chinatown: A Memoir Rooted in China and America
Jan Yanehiro, Jan Yanehiro Communications
Don Young, Executive Director, Center for Asian American Media
Alice Barkley
Louise Bluestone
Wayne Hu
Deborah Grace Kent
Debra Levin
Jane Perry
Rosalia Mendoza
Terri Taylor
Kathie Trewin
Linda Wang
Eden Webbe