The Chinese Historical Society of Southern California acquired the collection from the donation of CHSSC's current President, Susan Dickson, in 2022. Her involvement in ensuring a proper burial from the Chinese community back in the years this occurred, was preserved in this collection, now to be preserved within CHSSC's archive.

As part of the CHSSC Archive's mission to pursue, preserve, and communicate knowledge of the history of Chinese Americans in Southern California, The Susan G. Dickson Collection serves as a valuable addition for future researchers, scholars, and community members who are interested in the historical aspects of Chinese burial traditions with death and post-death beliefs, Chinese artifacts, Los Angeles city and urban planning projects, and the closure gained to the Chinese community in receiving a proper burial. In addition, this collection serves as a great extension of CHSSC's own history, where many voices were heard to do what was best for the Chinese community, and where several documents of correspondence were preserved.

Amanda Galvez processed the collection circa 2022, starting with gaining familiarity with the materials housed in two boxes. She then categorized and placed like materials together within each box, loosely grouping, which eventually became our series and subseries headings. She developed six series, and seven subseries, and placed materials into numbered folders inside the boxes where they were originally found.

Once the materials were identified and put into labeled folders, the two boxes were labeled, and moved accordingly. Many of the documents are housed in their original order, which is important for the integrity of the collection.