Visual Materials

Photographs of the Feast of the Dead festival in Los Angeles' Chinatown, 1902 October

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Description: Nine photographic postcards documenting the Chinese community's Feast of the Dead festival in Los Angeles' Old Chinatown, October, 1902. The religious celebration invoked Taoist rituals to honor the dead, and was popularly called the Feast of the Dead, though other translations may be Ta Chiu festival or Dajiao festival. The event took place every three years in Los Angeles' Chinatown, and lasted several days. The images depict Chinese participants in traditional and festive dress; children in decorated carts; men carrying puppets or effigies; and a procession carrying a long paper dragon. Crowds are seen gathered around the Los Angeles Plaza area, and one image shows a group carrying Chinese banners and the American flag.
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Date: 1902 October.
Call number: photCL 629
Provenance: Purchased from Downtown Brown Books, September 2020.

Los Angeles

Visual Materials

Photographs of Chinatown in Los Angeles (Items 58-132) depict parades and festivities including the first Fiesta de Los Angeles (1894) and the Feast of the Dead in Los Angeles (1902); street scenes including views of people and of businesses, such as the the Los Angeles Hay Market (Items 83-84); a glimpse of the Water Department on Marchessault Street (Item 86); the Mon Chong and Company storefront on Apablasa Street, one with Percival's mother in front (Items 102-103); the Guan Sun Company and Chop Suey Café; views of a parade and of Marchessault Street dated 1929 (Items 123-128); and photographs depicting Chinese graves and a Chinese tomb in the Evergreen Cemetery (Items 129-133).

photCL 217

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Los Angeles Chinatown

Manuscripts

Photographs and photographic postcards of Old Chinatown and New Chinatown, newsletters and photographs of the Chinese Presbyterian Church, and other items related to Los Angeles Chinatown, including newspaper clippings, events programs from the 1920s-1940s, a promotional photograph album from the 1930s, and promotional material from the 1980s.

mssSoohood

Paper dragon carried by Los Angeles Chinatown citizens in parade, 1901

Visual Materials

A view of a very long line of men carrying a Chinese Dragon for the Los Angeles Fiesta.

photCL Pierce 01162

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Los Angeles Flower Festival Society records

Manuscripts

This collection contains records of the Flower Festival Society, a women's association in Los Angeles, California, dating from 1885 to 1891. The records include correspondence, festival and fair programs, newspaper clippings, photographs, a notebook, a list of donations, and other documents about the Flower Festival Society. The records provide a unique perspective to view California women's history and leisure activities at the end of the nineteenth century. In addition, newspaper clippings about the Chrysanthemum Fair include some women's favorable perceptions of Japanese and Chinese art and culture. Subjects in the records include Arrowhead Springs (Calif.), Chinese Art objects, Chinese culture and civilization, Chrysanthemums – China, Chrysanthemums – Japan, Japanese Art objects, Los Angeles times, Southern Pacific Transportation Company, and the YMCA of the USA.

mssFlower

The New Los Angeles Chinatown

Manuscripts

Three typed pages, possibly a press release, describing New Chinatown, the location, its architects and architecture, funding by the local Chinese-American community, and tentative opening date. Written by Peter SooHoo acting as Secretary for the Los Angeles Chinatown (Inc.).

mssSooHoo

Chinese baby, Old Chinatown, Los Angeles

Visual Materials

Image of a Chinese toddler in traditional Chinese clothing in Old Chinatown in Los Angeles, California.

photCL_555_01_127

Photographs of the Feast of the Dead festival in Los Angeles' Chinatown, 1902 October

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