When Samip Mallick was growing up in Michigan, he didn’t often see his community, heritage, and identity reflected.

Striving to do something about it, he co-founded the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) in 2008, which is now the largest publicly accessible archive of the community with over 5,300 stories, writes Tim Jimenez for KYW Newsradio. 

The nonprofit’s mission is to give a voice to South Asian Americans, tell their stories, and share their experiences.

The archive includes oral history interviews, photographs, newspaper clippings, letters and more dating back to the 1800s all the way to the present day. 

“We use the archive as a jumping-off point and we collaborate with scholars and filmmakers and artists and musicians and community members to bring the stories from the archive to life,” said Mallick. 

The team recently developed a walking tour here in Philadelphia called, Revolution Remix. 

One of the stories highlighted is of Anandibai Joshi, who was the first South Asian woman to ever become a physician and medical doctor. 

She first arrived to Philadelphia in 1883 because it was one of the few places where a woman could earn a medical degree. 

For Mallick, it’s important to have these stories live on from generation to generation.

Read more about the mind behind the largest archive of South Asian stories in KYW Newsradio.

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