Chung

In homage to the return of UBC’s this September students, this month’s featured photograph is of a student fundraising group in 1931. The group of Chinese Canadian students were raising funds through a concert for a new stadium at UBC:

The place to go for university history is the University of British Columbia Archives, which is a branch of the library (and neighbours to us here at Rare Books and Special Collections/The Chung Collection, so you can visit them and us at the same time!). On their website, they provide both an alphabetic listing and a chronological listing of UBC buildings. According to the entry for the Old Stadium (since demolished) the Stadium was built in 1931 including funds raised by the Alma Mater Society. This benefits from this concert of Chinese students were presumably included in that fundraising campaign. The photograph was taken by Yucho Chow Studio, who photographed many Chinese-Canadian groups and families.

This month for our featured photograph, we longed to show a vintage shot of the fair at the Pacific National Exhibition, a Vancouver summer favorite. Alas, the Chung Collection does not have one. We do however have this great shot of a fair in Red Deer, AB:

The photograph dates from the mid 1920’s – 30’s, and originates from the Clandonald material in the collection. The Clandonald material tells the story of Scottish and Irish immigrants who settled near Red Deer as part of the CPR’s land colonization programs. You can browse through all the Clandonald material, most of which has been digitized and can be viewed online.

This October, Vancouver’s Arsenal Pulp Press is publishing a graphic novel called Escape to Gold Mountain: A Graphic History of the Chinese in North America by David H.T. Wong. From the APP catalogue:

“The history of Chinese immigration to Canada and the US over the past 100-plus years has been fraught with sadness and indignity; newcomers to North America encountered discrimination, subjugation, and separation from loved ones…Escape to Gold Mountain is the first graphic novel to tell their story: based on historical documents and interviews with elders, this is a vivid history of the Chinese in their search for “Gold Mountain” (the Chinese colloquialism for North America) as seen through the eyes of the Wong family. They traverse the challenges of eking out an existence in their adopted homeland with hope and determination, creating a poignant immigrant’s legacy for their sons and daughters.”

Suggested for readers 12 and up, this sounds like an entertaining and educational read for any age! We will certainly be adding a copy of this publication to the Chung Collection when it is released.

Rare Books and Special Collections (where the Chung Collection is located) also happens to house the archives of Arsenal Pulp Press.

It is finally starting to feel a little like summer in Vancouver- we hope you have been enjoying yourselves! Our featured photograph this month is a lovely summer scene:

This young bather is enjoying the lake near Silver Island, Ontario in July of 1921. The photo is from an album of photographs taken by a traveller on the Canadian Pacific Railway and steamships. We would guess that Helen Pearson, as captioned in the album, was a family member or neighbour of the photographer who seems to have had a summer home on Silver Island (south of Sudbury).

Have you been spring cleaning your home this weekend? How would you like to try spring cleaning an Empress steamship?

This month’s featured photograph depicts the second Empress of Britain being tugged for her “spring cleaning” in Southampton, England. This photograph was taken in May of 1932. According to the photographer, this cleaning was an annual affair, so this is probably only the first or second cleaning- she was launched in July 1930.

For more photographs of the Empress of Britain, search the Chung Collection database for “Empress of Britain” and select photographic material as the media type- or, click here for the search results.