Do you have photos of people who played a part in the history of Chinese-Americans in the Midwest? If you do, please let us know. Just click here to contact us. We would like to copy your photos, with your permission, and make them available for others to see.
We also want photos of places and of objects (or even better, actual objects) that played a part in Midwestern Chinese-American history. For examples of those people and objects, click on Places and Objects.
Chinese-American Museum of Chicago (CAMOC)
Raymond B. and Jean T. Lee Center
Formal portrait of Chin Foin, a pioneering Chinese restaurateur. Taken in Chicago, ca. 1915. Photo courtesy of his daughter, Ms. Gladys Wang.
One of the first Chinese women ever photographed in Chicago, at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. According to one source she came from Ogden, Utah (which had a small Chinatown at that time, dating from the building of the transcontinental railway), but she was probably a San Franciscan. We have not found her name yet.
Wu Tingfang, the popular and highly regarded Imperial Chinese ambassador to the U.S. between 1897 and 1902. He visited Chicago a number of times and later received an honorary LLD degree from the University of Chicago. Famed for his wit and candor in explaining China to European-Americans, he also took an active role in the Chinese-American community. He is credited with thinking up the idea of limiting the number of Chinese restaurants and laundries in each neighborhood, as supervised by each city's Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association. Download his remarkable book America for free at Project Gutenberg's website
Family photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Dong Yee Moy, Chicago, 1912. Mr. Moy was one of the three brothers said to have founded the first Chinatown in Chicago. Photo courtesy of Dong Yee Moy's grandson, Mr. Jeffrey Moy.
The noted poet Wen Yiduo in front of the Art Institute of Chicago, about 1922. His experiences as a student at the School of the Art Institute led him to write several important poems about Chicago, including his great Laundryman's Song
Sun Zhongshan (Sun Yat-sen), the first president of the Republic of China, visited Chicago three times (and St. Louis at least once) in the early 1900s, seeking support for a revolution against the Manchu emperors. In this picture, taken in 1909, he appears with Chinatown leaders of that period. He is seated just to the right of the table. The names of the others have been added here based on an annotated copy of the photo preserved in the Moy Family Association, Chicago. Click here to see a larger picture
Wu Dingfang, the most admired of all Chinese ambassadors, ca. 1900
The Moy family in photos taken in Chicago between 1912 and 1920
Wen Yiduo, a famed poet, at the Chicago Art Institute, 1922
Sun Yat-sen (Sun Zhongshan) with Chinese leaders in Chicago, 1909
Chin Foin and Yokelund Wong, his wife. Taken in Chicago, 1906. Photo from Immigration Service records in NARA, Chicago
The wives and children of the three Moy brothers in ca. 1915, with Ms. Dong Yee Moy on the left. It was most unusual for one Chinese-American family to have so many women in the U.S. Poorer, less influential men had to leave their wives and children back in China. Photo courtesy of Ruth Moy.
Americanization in the second Moy generation, ca. 1920. Several of the same children shown in the above photograph appear here in their American school clothes. Photo courtesy of Ruth Moy.
Copyright 2004-2005 by the Chinatown Museum Foundation
