A Filipino man poses next to a Ford Model A in the 1930s. Filipino Agricultural Workers Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

In 2005, Antonio Somera, a Filipino American member of the Legionarios del Trabajo, a Masonic fraternal order, stumbled across a trove of mysterious-looking containers while he was cleaning out the basement of the Daguhoy Lodge in Stockton, California.

The containers, which had been abandoned for decades, included more than a dozen steamer trunks – large luggage chests designed for long-distance travel – and a handful of suitcases dating to the 1910s.

Originally published on theconversation.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.

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