AIISF Newsletter / August 2025
A Message From AIISF’s Executive Director
Dear AIISF Friends and Family,
While most tours on Angel Island are provided by Angel Island State Park’s amazing staff and docents, did you know that AIISF staff are also available to host special tours as part of our fundraising efforts? The donations from these tours directly support AIISF’s programs and operations. If you are interested in a guided tour led by AIISF staff, then send us an email at info@aiisf.org.
In July, AIISF had the opportunity to host several special group tours, including teambuilding visits for the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender Based Violence and California Humanities. We also partnered with Facing History & Ourselves to bring 50 educators out to the site to help inform how they teach their students about Angel Island’s history.
This month, we look forward to hosting 8 student-essay competition winners and their chaperones from across the country for America’s Field Trip. This contest is a part of the year-long celebration of the 250th anniversary of America.
As many of you already know, a visit to Angel Island can be incredibly meaningful and powerful. This is especially so for those whose ancestors were detained on Angel Island, those who are immigrants or of immigrant heritage, and those who have personally experienced detention or incarceration. There is no replacement for learning about this history directly where it happened. That’s why AIISF has worked so hard for over 42 years to preserve the buildings at Angel Island. And it’s why we are continuing to ask for your support of our Pathways to Immigration Campaign which will help improve accessibility on the site.
At AIISF, we also seek to create increased community, belonging, and inclusion through our work. This past weekend, we were honored to take part in BBQ Without Borders, an event hosted by No Immigrants No Spice. At the event, our team released a few featured videos about local chefs and entrepreneurs who are immigrants or of immigrant heritage, including Anthony Salguero of Popoca, Daniel Aderaw Yeshiwas of Cafe Colucci, and Sam Butarbutar of Third Culture Bakery. Learn more about their immigration journeys on our YouTube channel.
As we head into the final months of summer, I hope you all have the opportunity to do something that brings you meaning, joy, or rejuvenation. Whether it’s a trip out to Angel Island; a delicious meal that reminds you of home; or thoughtful conversation with colleagues, friends, or family—please do take the time to practice self-care. Rest and recuperation are important to our individual and collective resiliency.
Wishing you all of the above,
Edward Tepporn
Executive Director
Notice: Accessibility at the Angel Island Immigration Station
The elevators in the Detention Barracks Museum and the Angel Island Immigration Museum (AIIM) are temporarily out-of-order. The first floor of the detention barracks is still ADA-accessible, but the second floor is only accessible by stairs. Most of the exhibits in AIIM are on the second floor that is also only accessible by stairs.
Pathways to Immigration Special Campaign
Through our Pathways to Immigration Special Campaign, you can commemorate your own immigration journey, honor your family’s immigrant heritage, or show your allyship with immigrant communities.
Whether you or your family came through Angel Island or elsewhere and whether you arrived in the US decades ago or days ago, we welcome your name and your support.
For Students & Teachers
Field Trips
A new school year is starting; tour times for September to December open on August 18!
Standard tour times will be shifting to 11 am, 12:15 pm, and 1 pm for the fall term.
We encourage teachers to reserve tours early, as space is limited!
Scholarships
Thanks to generous support from donors, AIISF provides local, Bay Area public schools with field trip scholarships!
These supplemental funds can help cover transportation costs, tickets, and other expenses related to visiting the Angel Island Immigration Station.
NEW Virtual Tours with Angel Island State Park!
Request Deadline: August 12
Click here to learn more
Our friends at Angel Island State Park are soft launching an all-day virtual barracks tour reservation, to offer multiple class periods a free PORTS (Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students) program!
Each session includes a 45-minute Zoom tour of the Detention Barracks Museum in the context of the Chinese Exclusion Era's immigration policies.
These tours are available to middle- and high-school teachers ONLY. For elementary school PORTS reservations, please visit the PORTS page.
Upcoming Events
Hands on History
August 9 | 12 - 3:30 pm
Angel Island Immigration Museum
Click here to learn more
Take a trip out to Angel Island and make art while learning about the history of the site!
Hungry Ghost Festival: Demons of Our Times
August 23 | 4 - 9 pm
San Francisco Chinatown
Click here to learn more
Find us at this year's Hungry Ghost Festival in San Francisco's Chinatown! Stop by our table for a fun art activity!
Presented by the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, the event features a Ghost King Parade, art, performances, community booths, and youth activities.
Demons of Our Times is a contemporary reimagining of the Chinese Zhongyuan or Yulan Festival. It falls on the fifteenth night of the seventh lunar month, when the most anguished spirits breach the boundaries between worlds, seeking solace.
Taken From Their Families is at Heart Mountain
Now to October 2025
Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, Wyoming
Our traveling exhibit, Taken From Their Families, is on display at Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, a museum located at a former World War II Japanese American confinement site in Wyoming.
Community and Partner Programs
Volunteer with Angel Island State Park!
Angel Island State Park is looking for volunteers!
Available roles include helping at the immigration station, supporting programming at Camp Reynolds, and contributing to park beautification!
For more information, contact Angel Island State Park:
Email: tours.angelisland@parks.ca.gov
Phone: (415) 435-5537
All Eyes On Us: Invention & Ingenuity During Artistic Diasporas
March 27 - December 13
Edge on the Square
Click here to learn more
Visit All Eyes on Us at Edge on the Square!
The exhibition spotlights “hidden dragons”: individuals whose artistic careers, practices and expressions shape-shifted or became dormant as they navigated the complexities of immigration, assimilation and survival.
Featuring sound art, installations, and more, the exhibition centers Asian American and diasporic stories of resilience, ingenuity and triumph over adversity.
Community Resources
Immigration Institute of the Bay Area
Founded in 1918, the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area (IIBA) has helped immigrants, refugees, and their families join and contribute to the community for over one hundred years.
IIBA provides immigration legal services, immigration clinics, and citizenship classes for the Bay Area community.
It also sponsors the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office’s Immigration Defense Fund which provides support to people facing deportation.
AIISF is a small (but mighty) nonprofit that has worked tirelessly for the past 42 years to preserve the buildings at Angel Island and to elevate the stories of immigrants. Our ability to continue these preservation efforts and to continue to offer free or low-cost programs is dependent on the support of community members like you. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to AIISF.