Intrepid Sisters on the Move II

Posted on December 24, 2025 @10:49 am by Chelsea Shriver

Many thanks to guest blogger, Barbara Towell, for contributing the below post! Barbara is E-Records Manager with Digital Programs & Services at UBC Library and an avid cyclist.

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This blog is part two of Kitty and Clara Wilson – Intrepid Sisters on the Move. If you have not read part one, please find it here. In this part I plan on comparing spots Kitty and Clara saw on their ride with those same or similar spots today.

The Rides in Context

Kitty and Clara were already local Vancouver celebrities when they began their cycling tour up the coast of Vancouver Island to Campbell River. In 1936, eighteen months before the first of their Vancouver Island trips, they achieved what every penny-pinching backpacker dreams of: they talked their way onto the British Steam Ship Harmatris, a merchant tanker headed for Australia, securing unpaid employment (in return for passage) as deckhands. They did jobs such as cleaning and painting. This was the first of many merchant tankers on which they sought, and received, passage to their next destination. Their first port-of-call was Melbourne, then on to Tasmania, Australia; Durban, South Africa; Dublin, Ireland; then finally, London England where they planned a cycling trip around the United Kingdom.

In London, they bought second-hand bikes, probably Rastus and Ginger and tried to teach themselves to ride them. Imagine planning a cross-country cycling trip without knowing how to ride a bike? After a few failed attempts and bloodied body parts they agreed, “we will try to learn to ride these just once more and if we crash this time we will sell the bicycles and walk around England” (Vancouver Sun, Dec. 12, 1936). Finally their bikes stayed upright and they embarked on their first cycling tour around the England and Scotland. In 1938 they returned to Vancouver via Panama. Once back in Vancouver, Clara gave talks to women’s groups and interviews to newspapers about their unique and, economical way of seeing the world. Clara always emphasized the thrift of this around the world adventure.

Their cycling travels continued in BC over the next decade. They rode each summer and documented their trips in the photo albums held at Rare Books and Special Collections. What I discovered on our recreation of their trip is that very little of what Kitty and Clara documented in the album and letters home survives – maybe just the road and the ocean, but joy endured, across time, across cyclists.

Nanaimo

 

Qualicum

 

Parksville

 

Campbell River

 

Campbell River

 

Elk Falls

 

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RBSC / UA reading room closure

Posted on December 19, 2025 @8:44 am by Chelsea Shriver

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New: Reading Room appointments

Posted on September 22, 2025 @8:28 am by Chelsea Shriver

Starting September 1, 2025, Rare Books and Special Collection (RBSC) and University Archives (UA) will move to appointment-based Reading Room visits. This change will allow us to continue to serve library patrons during a construction project impacting our access to storage areas. We will be unable to accommodate walk-in visits until further notice.

If you would like to request RBSC or UA materials to consult in the Reading Room, please schedule an appointment at least 24 hours in advance during weekday business hours. In order to allow sufficient time to retrieve these materials, we encourage library patrons to provide as much advanced notice as possible for their requests.

If you are unable to schedule an appointment using our online booking system, please email rare.books@ubc.ca or call 604 822-2521.

Also due to ongoing upgrades, the Rare Books and Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room has temporarily relocated down the hall to a satellite reading room in Irving K. Barber Learning Centre room 142.

Reading Room hours for Winter Term I (September – December, 2025) will be Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Scheduled class visits will be accommodated outside of public reading room hours.

Thank you for your patience!

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Intrepid Sisters on the Move

Posted on July 9, 2025 @2:38 pm by Chelsea Shriver

Many thanks to guest blogger, Barbara Towell, for contributing the below post! Barbara is E-Records Manager with Digital Programs & Services at UBC Library and an avid cyclist.

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On Monday, July 17, 1939, twenty-something sisters, Clara and Kitty Wilson, left their comfy family home on the west side of Vancouver and embarked on a two-week self-guided cycling holiday to Vancouver Island. This journey was one of a decade of summer cycling tours they undertook in British Columbia. They documented their trips through a series of photos and letters home that have been brought together in a wonderful photo album, now fully digitized and available on UBC Library’s Open Collections and forming part of the Uno Langmann Family Collection of Photographs. For Kitty and Clara Wilson, the summer of 1939 was one of leisure, adventure, letter-writing, and fun.

86 years after Clara and Kitty’s trip, my partner and I plan to recreate that ride, tracing the sisters’ tire marks, staying in the places they stayed, seeing the sights they saw. Our tour, like many of Kitty and Clara’s, begins at the Plaza Hotel in Nanaimo (now called Fairmont Hotels and Resorts), and carries on north to Campbell River. Some of the hotels and camps where Clara and Kitty stayed still exist, but most are gone. All the natural monuments remain however, and we plan to visit the waterfalls, rivers, and maybe the potholes mentioned in the letters. As for the buildings, I hope to find at least the addresses of where these places once were. In short, we plan to do just what Kitty and Clara did all those summers ago: enjoy a journey powered by legs and bicycles.

The Route

Kitty and Clara began their ride on July 17 and arrived in Campbell River on July 23, 1939. Their trip took place along what is now known at Highway 19A Ocean Side Route, which was at the time, primarily a gravel road. The highway was only fully paved in 1953, as part of WAC Bennet’s highway improvement plan. The sisters averaged just over 40K per day; theirs was a leisurely pace. Kitty herself said it best in a letter home: “We walked up every hill that was more than a foot high and still made good time.” I like the attitude conveyed in the letters; some days they just didn’t feel like riding, especially once they got to Campbell River where they were spoiled by the proprietor of their lodgings, Mr. Danby. They were on holiday after all.

The Gear

We don’t plan on sourcing and riding the same kind of bikes Kitty and Clara used (this isn’t that kind of recreation), but judging by the photographs, the sisters appear to be riding 1930s Dutch-style bikes that weigh-in at more than 20 kilograms each. They named these bikes Rastus (Clara), and Ginger (Kitty).

Kitty and Clara did not itemize their gear, but I can see from the photos that they traveled light: one small suitcase each strapped on to their bike’s luggage rack. Given the heft of Rastus and Ginger, packing light was necessary. I believe they brought their bikes on the ferry that docked at what is now Canada Place in Vancouver then took the CPR Princess Elaine to Nanaimo. It would be another twenty years before BC Ferries established the same routes to Nanaimo.

The Lodging: Auto Camps

There are still evidence of tiny cabins dotting the seaside on Vancouver Island. They were an invention that developed together with the expansion of the road network. I never knew what an auto camp was before I started reading the letters, but in 1939 they were everywhere. The sisters wrote to the proprietors of the auto camps along their route in advance ensuring they had a place to stay.

The Letters

Kitty and Clara wrote and received letters from their family daily, care of various post offices along their route. To the 21^st century reader, the sisters’ address and the manner in which they write paints a veneer of white British middle-class privilege and youthful ease. Their letters are full of comic misspellings, nicknames, and devil-may-care kinder-pomp. In contrast to the casual and nonchalant attitude taken up in the letters, the sisters planned this trip carefully. Two young women cycle-touring the dirt roads of Vancouver Island was not a common sight in 1939, and the people they told had opinions about their adventure. The sisters maintained an attitude about their trip that strikes me as particularly modern; they didn’t seem to be especially influenced by people’s opinions of how to spend their leisure time.

These two were not ordinary.

I hope you will join me in part two of this blog as we recreate the ride Kitty and Clara embarked upon 86 years ago, compare the sights, and perhaps get to know these intrepid sisters just a little.

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Chung | Lind Gallery summer hours

Posted on June 16, 2025 @8:39 am by Chelsea Shriver

Due to staffing changes, the Chung | Lind Gallery will have reduced hours for summer 2025.

The planned summer opening hours are:

•  June 17-28, 2025: Closed
•  July and August, the Gallery will be open Wednesdays to Saturdays from 10 am-5 pm

As opening hours are subject to change, please check the hours portal for the most up-to-date information.

During our reduced hours, we will have limited availability for guided tours and class visits.

We invite you to enjoy our audio highlights tour, our audio guide, or our 360-degree virtual tour. You can also browse digitized materials from the Chung and Lind Collections, and enjoy stories from the Chung | Lind Gallery Blog.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the RBSC contact form or by sending an email to rare.books@ubc.ca. Thank you again for your understanding and interest in the Chung | Lind Gallery!

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RBSC satellite reading room open

Posted on September 22, 2025 @8:59 am by Chelsea Shriver

Rare Books and Special Collections and University Archives is currently operating out of a satellite reading room.

Due to ongoing upgrades, the Rare Books and Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room has temporarily relocated down the hall to Irving K. Barber Learning Centre room 142.

 

Reading Room hours for Winter Term I (September – December, 2025) will be Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Scheduled class visits will be accommodated outside of public reading room hours.

Starting September 1, 2025, Rare Books and Special Collection (RBSC) and University Archives (UA) will move to appointment-based Reading Room visits. This change will allow us to continue to serve library patrons during a construction project impacting our access to storage areas. We will be unable to accommodate walk-in visits until further notice.

If you would like to request RBSC or UA materials to consult in the Reading Room, please schedule an appointment at least 24 hours in advance during weekday business hours. In order to allow sufficient time to retrieve these materials, we encourage library patrons to provide as much advanced notice as possible for their requests.

If you are unable to schedule an appointment using our online booking system, please email rare.books@ubc.ca or call 604 822-2521.

Thank you for your patience!

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It’s the Cream of the Crop!

Posted on June 9, 2025 @1:39 pm by Jacky Lai

Many thanks to guest blogger Gabriella J. Cigarroa for contributing the below post! Gabriella is a graduate student at the UBC School of Information and recently completed a Co-op work term with Rare Books and Special Collections Library.

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It’s the Cream of the Crop!: The B.C. Dairy Historical Society Collection

As a Co-op Project Archivist in Fall 2024, I processed the B.C. Dairy Historical Society collection. Since 1998, the B.C. Dairy Historical Society (BCDHS) has collected a breadth of records documenting the history of the provincial dairy industry. Used to write books including Jane Watt’s Milk Stories: A History of the Dairy Industry in British Columbia, 1827-2000 and High Water: Living with the Fraser Floods, this collection includes a wealth of journals, photographs, and records from provincial dairy organizations and producers. Materials originated from the Fraser Valley Milk Producers’ Association (now known as Agrifoods, and owners of Dairyland until 2001), Palm Dairies (a dairy local to Vancouver that was bought by Dairyland in 1989), and assorted dairy industry professionals and enthusiasts. 

Some photos of my favorite finds in the collection are shared below: 

 

 

 

As of 2023, dairy was the top agricultural commodity in B.C. This collection documents the work of dairy co-operatives, producers, and other industry professionals to develop that market.  

If you think about us the next time you visit the dairy aisle at your local grocery store, please contact RBSC about making a research visit. 

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Upcoming reading room closure

Posted on June 6, 2025 @12:02 pm by Chelsea Shriver

The Rare Books and Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room will be closed on Tuesday, June 10, for staff training. Normal satellite reading room hours will resume on Wednesday, June 11. We apologize for any inconvenience!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the RBSC contact form or by sending an email to rare.books@ubc.ca.

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Upcoming Chung | Lind Gallery Closure

Posted on April 28, 2025 @11:24 am by Claire Malek

The Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection and Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection Gallery will be closed from April 29 to May 17 inclusive due to a nearby construction project in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. Normal Gallery hours will resume on Tuesday, May 20. We apologize for any inconvenience!

During the closure, we invite you to browse digitized materials from the Chung and Lind Collections, and enjoy stories from the Chung | Lind Gallery Blog.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the RBSC contact form or by sending an email to rare.books@ubc.ca.

 

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Quon On: A Legacy of Travel, Trade, and Community in Chinese Canada

Posted on April 26, 2025 @12:21 pm by Andrew R. Sandfort-Marchese

This blog post is part of RBSC’s blog series spotlighting items in the Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection and the Wallace B. and Madeline H. Chung Collection.

In this photo by Yucho Chow dating to the 1920s we see a group of sharp businessmen in front of the Quon On Jan company store. This photo shows more than just a snapshot of daily life in bygone days – this place was not just a business, but a lifeline for Chinese Canadians navigating immigration, trade, and community life. In this blog we will talk about some of the identified men in this photo and their lives in the context of the Quon On business. This company, alongside its affiliate Quon On Co., was instrumental in the maritime and railway travel networks linking British Columbia to Asia and the United States. At the helm of Quon On Jan was Mar June 馬駿 (centre, farthest on the right), also known by the name 馬心喜—a powerful merchant.

From Ow Ben, Toisan to East Pender Street

Mar June’s origins trace back to the village of Ow Ben, Toisan (歐邊), in Kwonghoi township (廣海) Canton Province. His entry into Canada was recorded as May 1, 1895 on some documents, aligning with a later registration in 1909 upon arrival in Victoria from Seattle aboard the Canadian Pacific SS Princess Victoria. In that 1895 ledger he was listed as a merchant, aged 31, with no head tax recorded—a hint that he may have actually entered and become established before full enforcement of the Chinese Immigration Act. In US National Archives materials, there is ample evidence he travelled between Seattle, Port Townsend, Victoria, and Vancouver often during the years before the 1923 Canadian Exclusion Act was passed.[i]

By 1923, Mar June’s Quon On Jan firm was operating at 137-139 E Pender Street, sharing space with the Ma Gim Doo Hung (馬金紫堂 Mah Family Society). He most likely had a major role purchasing this plot of land and establishing the Mah clan’s hall on this prominent stretch of Chinatown’s commercial thoroughfare when they moved from a rooming house on Cambie St in 1920. This building remains a prominent historical landmark and continues to host the Mah Society of Vancouver. By 1924-1925 Quon On Jan moved to the address shown in the Yucho photo, 295 E Pender.

By this period had also established himself as a Chinese Agent for the Blue Funnel Line—a role he had filled in Vancouver since at least 1914, according to early issues of the Chinese Times. This company was an rival to the Canadian Pacific Steamships; ticket agents representing Blue Funnel often were competing with the prominent Yip Family which represented Canadian Pacific. He likely assumed the Blue Funnel portfolio after Lee Kee, roughly parallel to prominent merchant Seto More who gained the title of Canadian Pacific Chinese agent from the Yips. Additionally, he represented the Canadian National Railways and the Admiral Line, a subsidiary of the Pacific Steamship Company that operated from 1918 to 1936. This latter business likely puts him in direct contact with his relation Harry Mar Dong, a subject of a previous blog.

A Brotherhood of Agents and Merchants

Quon On Jan was not an isolated operation. The wider Mah family and their associates formed a tightly knit web of clan, trade, business, and community roles.

Mar Chan (馬進 also known as Mar Kok Leu/Len, not pictured in the Chow photo), from Kwonghoi, was an elder among Chinese ticket agents in Victoria. Likely a mentor of Mar June, he had arrived in Victoria before the head tax via San Francisco, and as early as 1898 he was a longstanding cannery labor contractor. Like with the Yip family, power and money from Chinese ticketing developed alongside control over where indebted labourers worked through perilous contracts, especially in canneries and farms. Eventually Mar Chan became the head of all Chinese agents for the Blue Funnel Line through both Quon On Co. and Quon On Jan. His business firm and family compound at 529 Cormorant Street, Victoria became a key address used by many Chinese workers registering under the Exclusion Act. He retired to China, his gold mountain dream, in 1928 at the age of 80, after 57 years in Canada. His departure would align with a new generation of brokers, ticket agents, merchants and translators arriving at the forefront of Chinatown life.[ii]

One of these up-and-comers was Mar Yee Why 馬余槐/淮 (centre, second from left of the four), possibly a cousin or associate of Mar June. Known later as Fred Bing Yee, he arrived in 1918 on the CPR Empress of Japan and began work as a passenger agent for Quon On Co., frequently traveling between Victoria and Vancouver. He journeyed to Seattle throughout the harsh Exclusion era in his private car, connected to Quon On’s operations. His comparative ease of travel across this rigid border often hostile to Chinese is noteworthy; Yee even returned from China in 1933 aboard the SS Ixion in second class—a rarity for Chinese Canadians, but fitting for someone deeply involved in international travel logistics.[iii] He later served as an accountant for the Young Fong Co. and passed away in 1963, survived by his wife, two sons, and a daughter.

The Rise of a Power Couple: Frank Mah and Mary Lam

As the 1930s approached, Frank Mah Fook Shung 馬福崇 emerged as a vital figure in the evolution of Quon On. He married Mary Lam, the daughter of Chung Ling Lam of the Hong Wo store in Richmond, in 1931. Around this point the Quon On partnership dissolved, with Quon On Co. of Victoria and Vancouver continuing as Blue Funnel Agents under Frank’s management, while Quon On Jan became American Mail Line and Dollar Line Agents, with Mar June remaining CNR ticketing agent.

Initially the couple lived above Quon On Co.’s new address at 254½ Pender St, but later moved to the Cumberland Apartments on 14th Ave, making the couple early Chinese Canadian residents of Vancouver’s West Side, contemporaries of Tong Louie and Geraldine Seto in Point Grey. The Mah’s became known for their hospitality, hosting dignitaries and leaders of Chinatown as key parts of Vancouver “society life.”

Frank was the English Secretary of the Chinese Merchants Association and a prolific presence in the English newspapers of the time. He coordinated the mass exodus of poor Chinese elderly “bachelor” men post-repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1947. Quon On’s reputation had remained strong into the post-war period, with the firm acting as agent for American President Lines, one of the only lines Chinese Canadians who wished to return to China for retirement could take home—particularly as CPR limited its passenger service from BC.

After Frank’s untimely death in 1948, Mary Lam took over the business and transformed it. As Mary Mah (or often in newspapers as Mrs. Frank Mah), she became a travel entrepreneur, Chinese art collector, and a cultural ambassador of sorts. Quon On under her direction eventually rebranded as Quon On Travel Service, representing Canadian Pacific Air and arranging luxurious global tours. In 1959, for example, she offered a 38-day Pacific Orient travel package visiting Hawaii, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, and Hong Kong for $1,795, with a discounted rate for companions.[iv]

A Cultural Legacy

Mary Mah was much more than a travel agent. She was a member of the Soroptimists Club, active in the Pender Y, and taught Cantonese cooking at UBC’s Home Economics building as part of extension courses. She was a supporter of the Chinatown News magazine through her frequent purchase of advertisement space, and was a noteworthy bridge between early local born Chinese and those following in the 1940s and 1950s. These efforts helped broaden understanding and appreciation of Chinese culture in British Columbia during the 1960s.[v] She lectured widely on art, politics, and the cosmopolitan life of Hong Kong.

In 1960, Quon On Co. found itself peripherally involved in the RCMP’s sweeping investigations into “paper sons.” While the company did not engage in document fraud, it occasionally referred inquiries about getting fake documents to George Lim, Mary’s brother and head of Hong Wo store, which managed farms and cannery contracts.[vi]

The Final Chapter

Though Quon On World Travel—the company’s last iteration—likely ended operation during the COVID-19 pandemic, the spirit of the original firm endures. Its legacy lives on through archives, oral histories, and the memories of thousands whose journeys it helped facilitate—across oceans and generations.

Mary Mah passed away on October 21, 1990, just shy of her 90th birthday. She and Frank Mah are buried at Mountain View Cemetery, as well as Mar June and his wife Jung Shee, whose work through businesses like Quon On shaped the Chinese Canadian experience.[vii]

Footnotes

[i] US National Archives and Records Administration, Seattle branch. Mar June. Chinese Exclusion Act Case files, Box 341 Case 7027/70.

[ii] Mar Chan had at least three children, and likely had multiple wives as many merchants did. Known descendants are: Mar Kai Kong 馬啓, Mar Kai Kai Leong 馬啓亮, and Mar Hang So.

[iii] Library and Archives Canada, Passenger Lists: Vancouver and Victoria 1925-1935, Reel T-14903, June 3 1933, SS. Ixion

[iv] Chinatown News, Jan 18, 1959, page 11

[v] Chinatown News, Sept 3 1961, page 24

[vi] Library and Archives Canada, 2025, Access to Information Request A-2022-04779, Image 1190

[vii] Frank and Mary Mah had no children, and its unclear if Mar June and his wife or wives did.

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Posted in Chung, Chung | Lind Gallery, Collections, Exhibitions, Frontpage Exhibition, Immigration and Settlement, Research and learning | Tagged with Blue Funnel Line, Chinese American History, Chinese Canadian History, Chung Collection, Chung Lind Gallery, collections, History, Vancouver, Victoria, Yip Family

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