Professor Laura Ng Receives Grant for Archaeological Research on the Rock Springs Chinatown in Wyoming

Laura Ng, assistant professor of Anthropology, has been awarded a $9,000 grant from the Fund for Wyoming Archaeology at the University of Wyoming's George C. Frison Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology. The funding will support an archaeological excavation in southwestern Wyoming, focusing on the historical Rock Springs Chinatown.

This three-week dig will involve Professor Ng, up to four Grinnell students, and archaeologists Paul Hoornbeek and Dudley Gardner, Professor Emeritus at Western Wyoming Community College. Rock Springs was one of Wyoming’s largest Chinatowns in the late 19th century and a significant site of Chinese immigrant labor, particularly for the Union Pacific Railroad Company.\

Ng’s broader research explores Wyoming Chinatowns through archaeological excavations, oral history interviews with descendants of community members, and an analysis of immigration patterns from China’s Pearl River Delta. Her work examines the experiences of Chinese immigrants, including their encounters with racial violence before and after the 1885 Chinese Massacre and the passage of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.

This project builds on Ng’s previous excavations at the Evanston and Rock Springs Chinatowns in 2024, conducted with Dr. Gardner to support the National Historic Landmark nomination of these sites. Their research was featured in a March 2025 New Yorker article by Michael Luo.

In addition to the Frison Institute grant, Dr. Ng has received a 2025–2026 Harris Faculty Fellowship from Grinnell College to further her research. Congratulations to Professor Ng!