Photograph of Seid Back in front of his general store in Portland, Oregon

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  Photograph of Seid Back Jr. family in front of their home, Portland, Oregon

  Visual Materials

  Photograph of Seid Gain Back Jr., his wife Mary Chan Back, and their two children Dip Gay Seid Back (1915-1983) and Katherine Mae Seid Back Lee (1918-2006) standing in front of their home in Portland, Oregon. The children are seated in their small, florally decorated pedal fire truck for Portland's 15th Annual Rose Festival, Grand Floral Parade. A caption imbedded in the photograph cites the event, the children's names and ages, and says "Prize Winner." The photograph was taken by well-known Portland area photographer Arthur Prentiss.

  photPF 26007

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  Back family photograph album

  Visual Materials

  A photograph album documenting the lives of Seid Back, Jr., Mary Chan Back, and their two children, Dip Gay Seid Back (1915-1983) and Katherine Mae Seid Back Lee (1918-2006). Seid Back, Jr. was the son of prominent Chinese American merchant Seid Back, based in Portland, Oregon. The album begins with a studio portrait of the Back family taken in the early 20th century and continues with the lives of the Back family and friends in locations such as Oregon, Washington, California, and the South Pacific, through the late 1940s. A man who is possibly Dip Gay Seid Back is seen in military clothing at a U.S. encampment; writing on the back says "Men of 13th Gen. Hospital. Dec. 1944. New Guinea." Other photographs show young people, white and Asian, in recreational activities and sometimes posing by new cars or in front of houses. The album depicts the everyday activities of young Chinese Americans during the Chinese Exclusion era, their travels by automobiles throughout the American West, a young Chinese American serviceman in the South Pacific, and interracial marriages between Chinese American women and U.S. servicemen.

  photCL 706

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  Letters to Seid Back Jr

  Manuscripts

  Three letters from students thanking Chinese-American businessman Seid Back Jr. for hosting them on a summer boat trip from San Francisco, as well as a letter to Back from police Detective Sergeant H.H. Hawley in Portland, Oregon. The three student letters to Back, all dated 1916, include one from K. Young, who notes "I haven't seen any of our Chinese friends and merchants to [sic] treated our boys as you"; one from K.H. Chiu of the Chinese Students' Christian Association who notes that many of the students Back hosted have already gone back to work or summer school, and asks him to keep a university pennant as a memento of "your Christian brother Chiu and 'California'"; and one from Stephen Mark, who writes from onboard the S.S. "T.C. Walker" that the summer class session has emptied his savings and "I am dead broke, knowing hardly [if] I am to return to college...as each year comes I find it much more difficult to work and study at the same time," and notes that several Chinese students are leaving Berkeley but will probably be replaced with others, although "the requirements are so strict here that many a one finds it necessary to transfer to some other university in order to graduate in due time." The letter from Sergeant Hawley is dated 1913 and asks Back for a contribution toward a dinner for the "poor unfortunate girls" in the Home of the Good Sheppard.

  mssHM 80446-80449

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  Young man sitting on stool in front of store

  Visual Materials

  This collection contains photographs of Los Angeles' Old Chinatown and portraits of its Chinese residents, most dating from the 1890s to the 1900s. Together there are 299 glass plate negatives ranging in size from 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches to 8 x 5 inches; an ornate photograph album containing 12 studio portraits of Chinese men and women; and six additional card photograph portraits. Some printed photographs have the imprints of professional photographers and a few of the glass plate negatives are credited to "Yee Photo, L.A. Cal." They may be connected to a photographer "Yee" who at one time had a studio at 510 North Los Angeles Street in Old Chinatown (see photograph Box 8 (1)). This could possibly be Wy Yee, a photographer working during the same time period. It is unclear if he took all the photographs or there was more than one photographer. There are two glass plate images of a photographer's storefront with a sign in Chinese that translates to Jinghua Photo Studio. Scenes in Old Chinatown include: street views of buildings and storefronts; Chinese and a few white people walking in the streets; the interior of a restaurant and three Chinese workers posing for the camera; two men on bicycles; the Chinese community participating in La Fiesta de las Flores parade; and other candid photographs of people in daily activities. Some buildings have store signs in English and Chinese. The majority of photographs are portraits of primarily Chinese sitters. Several are posed studio portraits of men, women, or children, wearing traditional Chinese or western clothing, with elaborate props and backdrops. Other portraits are simple head shots of Chinese men, one of which has the handwritten date "1902," the year that the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was made permanent and required Chinese residents to register and obtain immigration documents. Other photographs include: three studio images of women showing bare shoulders, a Chinese woman posing in a sailor's uniform, and white tourists posing in traditional Chinese clothing. Photographer imprints on card photographs are: Bijou Studio, James Blanchard, George Dewey, J. H. Lamson Company, Michael A. Wesner, and "Yee," who may be photographer Wy Yee, all of Los Angeles. There is one portrait of a Chinese woman by William Shew, San Francisco. The China subseries consists of copies of photographs taken in China, including landmarks and scenes of punishment. Please note that this subseries contains historical images that library users may find harmful, offensive, or inappropriate. Miscellaneous photographs include images of Native Americans and a town in the Southwest.

  photCL 624

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  Portrait of a Chinese man, seated, front facing

  Visual Materials

  This collection contains photographs of Los Angeles' Old Chinatown and portraits of its Chinese residents, most dating from the 1890s to the 1900s. Together there are 299 glass plate negatives ranging in size from 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches to 8 x 5 inches; an ornate photograph album containing 12 studio portraits of Chinese men and women; and six additional card photograph portraits. Some printed photographs have the imprints of professional photographers and a few of the glass plate negatives are credited to "Yee Photo, L.A. Cal." They may be connected to a photographer "Yee" who at one time had a studio at 510 North Los Angeles Street in Old Chinatown (see photograph Box 8 (1)). This could possibly be Wy Yee, a photographer working during the same time period. It is unclear if he took all the photographs or there was more than one photographer. There are two glass plate images of a photographer's storefront with a sign in Chinese that translates to Jinghua Photo Studio. Scenes in Old Chinatown include: street views of buildings and storefronts; Chinese and a few white people walking in the streets; the interior of a restaurant and three Chinese workers posing for the camera; two men on bicycles; the Chinese community participating in La Fiesta de las Flores parade; and other candid photographs of people in daily activities. Some buildings have store signs in English and Chinese. The majority of photographs are portraits of primarily Chinese sitters. Several are posed studio portraits of men, women, or children, wearing traditional Chinese or western clothing, with elaborate props and backdrops. Other portraits are simple head shots of Chinese men, one of which has the handwritten date "1902," the year that the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was made permanent and required Chinese residents to register and obtain immigration documents. Other photographs include: three studio images of women showing bare shoulders, a Chinese woman posing in a sailor's uniform, and white tourists posing in traditional Chinese clothing. Photographer imprints on card photographs are: Bijou Studio, James Blanchard, George Dewey, J. H. Lamson Company, Michael A. Wesner, and "Yee," who may be photographer Wy Yee, all of Los Angeles. There is one portrait of a Chinese woman by William Shew, San Francisco. The China subseries consists of copies of photographs taken in China, including landmarks and scenes of punishment. Please note that this subseries contains historical images that library users may find harmful, offensive, or inappropriate. Miscellaneous photographs include images of Native Americans and a town in the Southwest.

  photCL 624

• Image not available

  Boy standing in front of building, holding basket

  Visual Materials

  This collection contains photographs of Los Angeles' Old Chinatown and portraits of its Chinese residents, most dating from the 1890s to the 1900s. Together there are 299 glass plate negatives ranging in size from 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches to 8 x 5 inches; an ornate photograph album containing 12 studio portraits of Chinese men and women; and six additional card photograph portraits. Some printed photographs have the imprints of professional photographers and a few of the glass plate negatives are credited to "Yee Photo, L.A. Cal." They may be connected to a photographer "Yee" who at one time had a studio at 510 North Los Angeles Street in Old Chinatown (see photograph Box 8 (1)). This could possibly be Wy Yee, a photographer working during the same time period. It is unclear if he took all the photographs or there was more than one photographer. There are two glass plate images of a photographer's storefront with a sign in Chinese that translates to Jinghua Photo Studio. Scenes in Old Chinatown include: street views of buildings and storefronts; Chinese and a few white people walking in the streets; the interior of a restaurant and three Chinese workers posing for the camera; two men on bicycles; the Chinese community participating in La Fiesta de las Flores parade; and other candid photographs of people in daily activities. Some buildings have store signs in English and Chinese. The majority of photographs are portraits of primarily Chinese sitters. Several are posed studio portraits of men, women, or children, wearing traditional Chinese or western clothing, with elaborate props and backdrops. Other portraits are simple head shots of Chinese men, one of which has the handwritten date "1902," the year that the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was made permanent and required Chinese residents to register and obtain immigration documents. Other photographs include: three studio images of women showing bare shoulders, a Chinese woman posing in a sailor's uniform, and white tourists posing in traditional Chinese clothing. Photographer imprints on card photographs are: Bijou Studio, James Blanchard, George Dewey, J. H. Lamson Company, Michael A. Wesner, and "Yee," who may be photographer Wy Yee, all of Los Angeles. There is one portrait of a Chinese woman by William Shew, San Francisco. The China subseries consists of copies of photographs taken in China, including landmarks and scenes of punishment. Please note that this subseries contains historical images that library users may find harmful, offensive, or inappropriate. Miscellaneous photographs include images of Native Americans and a town in the Southwest.

  photCL 624