Coll. 2080 Chinese-Americans of Maine Collection 1875-Present

Maine Historical Society

Coll. 2080 Chinese-Americans of Maine collection 1875-present

Accession no: 2001.3, 2003.246, 2001.394, 2003.150, 2004.022, 2004.088, 2004.219, 2004.336, 2004.337, 2005.022, 2005.125, 2005.136, 2005.163, 2005.170, 2005.367, 2005.500.178, 2006.144, 2006.324, 2007.005, 2007.158, 2007.315, 2009.075, 2010.121, 2010.316, 2010.360, 2011.088, 2011.242, 2011.272, 2011.345, 2011.368, 2013.148, 2013.152, 2013.243, 2013.257, 2013.279, 2014.008, 2014.156 (gift of Christine Chou), 2014.176, 2014.218, 2014.219, 2014.220, 2014.221 (gift of Ching-yuin Hsu), 2016.036, 2016.183, 2017.008

Processed: by Kathe Chipman January 2002; additions 2002-17 by Nancy Noble, Archivist Access: Unrestricted Copyright: Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be discussed with the MHS Image Services Coordinator.

Size: 5.75 linear feet

Scope and content note: In conjunction with an MHS initiative to document the history of several ethnic groups within Maine, two projects were undertaken: obtaining photocopies of records in the Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration, Waltham, Mass., of cases presented under the Chinese Exclusion Act in the United States District Court in Maine early in the 20th century against Maine residents (carried out by Gary Libby) and conducting interviews of Chinese-American residents (carried out by Libby and others) beginning in 2001. It is intended that additional donations relating to the Chinese-American community in Maine will be added to Coll. 2080.

Container List:

Box 1: Chinese Exclusion Act Box 2 and 2 (continued): Oral History interview typescripts Box 2a: Oral History interview tapes Box 3and 3a: Chinese restaurants Box 4: Genealogies and genealogical information Box 5 and 5a: Miscellaneous information (photographs, biographical information, court records, etc.) Box 6: Biographical sketches of Maine Chinese Box 7: Media and printed materials

Select images available on Maine Memory Network – www.mainememory.net Maine Historical Society Coll. 2080

See also Chinese in Portland (compiled by Gary W. Libby): M P837.111

Historical note: The project to document the history of Chinese-American residents in Maine is an outgrowth of the activities of the Chinese & American Friendship Association of Maine (CAFAM). Records from, and pertaining specifically to, CAFAM, is in Coll. 2081.

See also: Ethnic vertical files in Reference for newspaper clipping files about Chinese Americans in Maine.

Provenance: Assembled and donated by MHS trustee Gary Libby beginning in 2001 on behalf of the Chinese & American Friendship Association of Maine. Additions in 2002 - 2017. See source file for legal information, such as deed of gifts, copyright, and permissions to use.

Inventory

Box 1: Chinese Exclusion Act: 1. 27 copies of scanned portraits of Chinese men (some inscriptions and names evident) 2. brochure entitled Records in the Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration, comp. by Waverly B. Lowell (Reference Information Paper 99, 1996. 33 p.) 3. photocopy of clipping from the Portland Sunday Telegram, May 12, 1904; court results, Dec 22 + 23, 1902; Maine district court hearing, July 30, 1901. 4. photocopy of case file Wong Gu Leong 5. photocopy of case file Ho Bo, Eng Nam, Chin Pok, Chin Koock, Chin King, Leong Ming, Leung Yem 6. photocopy of case file Chin Guey and Chin Shuck 7. photocopy of case file Moy Yun 8. photocopy of case file Moy Bock Ling 9. photocopy of case file Lee Hang 10. photocopy of case file Chin How Gum ? 11. photocopy of case file Ng Joe Gwong 12. photocopy of case file Ching Hing 13. photocopy of case file Chin Hen (Chin Ton Lun) 14. photocopy of case file Goon Soon 15. photocopy of case file Ng Goon 16. photocopy of case file Ng Hong Wah 17. photocopy of case file Goon Teung

Box 2 (two boxes) and 2a: Interviews, 2001- 2014 – typescripts (Box 2 and 2 cont.) and audiotapes (Box 2a) 1. interview of Karen Morency, Aug. 29, 2001 audiotape 1

Maine Historical Society Coll. 2080

2. interview of Yueer Ren (Chinese immigrant and Portland nurse), July 31, 2001 (with photo) audiotape 2 3. interview of Philip Chin and his mother, Jane Chin (Jane Chin was a co-owner of a Lewiston Chinese restaurant), July 6, 2001 (with photo) audiotape 3 4. interview of Tess Gerritsen (New York Times bestselling fiction author), Apr. 27, 2001 (with photo of her and mother) audiotape 4 5. interview of Gan Xu (Professor of Art History at the Maine College of Art), July 24, 2001; biographical summary, genealogical chart, 4 photos audiotape 5 6. interview of Edward and Amy [Chin] Guen (Edward was a son of the 1952 American Mother of the Year, Toy Len Goon), Aug. 1, 2001 (with photo) audiotape 6 7. interview of Edward Guen (a son of the 1952 American Mother of the Year, Toy Len Goon), Aug. 24, 2001 (with photo) audiotapes 7-8 8. interview #2 of Edward Guen (a son of the 1952 American Mother of the Year, Toy Len Goon), Aug.24, 2001 9. interview of Nancy Roderick (a daughter of a Chinese restaurant cook), May 18, 2002 audiotape 9 10. interview of Sally Ng (immigrant and Portland Chinese community leader), n.d. audiotape 10 11. interview of Titan Fan (a founder of the Portland Chinese Gospel Church), December 4, 2001 (with photo) audiotape 11 12. interview of Christina Fan (a founder of the Portland Chinese Gospel Church), December 4, 2001; audiotape 11? 13. interview of Josephine Goon Moy (a daughter of the 1952 American Mother of the Year, Toy Len Goon), March 22, 2002 audiotape 12 14. interview of Doris Goon Wong (a daughter of the 1952 American Mother of the Year, Toy Len Goon), March 22, 2002 audiotape 13 15. interview of Charles Whitney Wong (a son of an early 20th century Bangor Chinese restaurant owner), November 11, 2001 (no audiotape) 16. interview of Charles Steven Wong (a son of Charles Whitney Wong), November 1, 2001 (no audiotape) 17. interview of Linda Herbert (a daughter of a Chinese restaurant cook), July 2002 audiotape 14 18. interview of Sandra Wone (a daughter of a Chinese restaurant cook), July 4, 2002 audiotape 15 19. interview of Raymond Huang (nee Raymond Jones, son of early 20th century Bangor Chinese restaurant owner and World War II U.S. Army officer), August 2, 2003; copy photographs ca. 1944 of Jones and his four brothers, all members of the military during World War II, as well as photographs of other members of the Jones family; photocopies of forms, 1947-1948, from the U.S. Dept. of the Army granting Jones leave of absence and authorizing his name change to Raymond Li Min Huang; e-mail from Gary Libby (and Ryan Lee) regarding photographs (no audiotape) 20. interview of Timothy Tang (an ethnic Chinese immigrant from Vietnam), October 31, 2003 (no audiotape) 21. interview of Ah-Kau Ng (ethnic Chinese immigrant from Malaysia and local Chinese community leader), March 22, 2005 audiotape 16

Maine Historical Society Coll. 2080

22. testimony of faith (biography) of Fenggang Yang, along with a poem about Maine by his daughter, Connie Yang, April 24, 2005 (with family photo) (no audiotape) 23. interview of Ruby Wong Chin Eng (a daughter of an early Chinese restaurant cook), May 26, 2005 (with family photo) audiotape 17 24. interview of Josephine (Goon) Moy, Doris (Goon) Wong, Janet (Goon) Louie (daughters of the 1952 American Mother of the Year, Toy Len Goon) by Fenggang Yang, March 22, 2002 audiotape 18 for all sisters, 19 for just Janet Louie 25. interview of Marjorie Jones, a longtime Rockport Selectwoman, by Dominica Lord- Wood, April 28, 2002 audiotape 20 26. interview of Wei-Teh Tai and her daughter Karen Morency by Craig Dietrich, April 10, 2009; biographical information and family photographs audiotape 21a and b 27. interview of John Anderson Wong (a grandson and son of Bangor Chinese laundry owners), March 28, 2010; biographical information and photocopies of photographs audiotape 21a, b, c 28. interview of Norman Ng (professional magician and son of a Portland and South Portland Chinese restaurant owner), Dec 22, 2011; brochure advertising “The Norman Magic Experience” audiotape 22 29. interview of Melissa Lin, Feb 26, 2012 audiotape 23a, b, c

Box 2 (cont.): 30. interview of Chun-Hua (Hanji) Chang, June 1, 2014; also 2 comic books “Marginal Way: Marginal tales from Maine and away” (Hanji Chang, artist) audiotape 24 31. interview of Timothy Lo (a Bangor entertainment entrepreneur), May 7, 2014 audiotape 25 32. interview of Ching-yuin Hsu, May 2014 (an early University of Maine student) no audiotape 33. interview of Tim Wah Luk (immigrant from Hong Kong and a founder of the Portland Chinese Gospel Church), April 27, 2002 no audiotape 34. interview of Sammee (Beverly) Quong, a retired nurse and community activist, June 17, 2016, and related materials audiotape 26a & 26b

Box 2a: Audiocassettes (see Box 2 and 2 cont. for descriptions)

Box 3 and 3a: Chinese restaurants 1. History of Chinese restaurants, by Gary Libby (2003) – see also Pamphlet 3501 for “Historical notes on Chinese restaurants in Portland, Maine” article in History Perspectives 2006 Chinese America 2. menus from Portland and South Portland (alphabetically by name) 3. menus from other Maine cities (alphabetically by city) 3a: A-K 3b: L-S 3c: T-Y 4. photographs of restaurants (alphabetically by Maine city) Box 3a: 5. matchbox covers from Chinese restaurants in Maine 6. copies of certificates for the formation of corporations for restaurants: - Joy Inn Restaurant (Lewiston) 4

Maine Historical Society Coll. 2080

- Oriental Restaurant (Lewiston) - George Wong Inc. (Waterville) - Pekin Restaurant Company (Bangor) - Pagoda Restaurant (Portland) 7. photocopy of lease for the original Hu Shang Restaurant (608 Congress St., Portland) and some health inspection reports on that Hu Shang 8. Pekin Restaurant, Bangor, Maine, photographs, newspaper clipping, and postcard - includes four photographs 1922 - 1929 taken by Frank L. Franklin (see source file for copyright and provenance) 9. Great Wall Buffet (S Portland) – lawsuit (includes photographs of picketers, and press release, 2009 10. Stir Crazy (Portland) – restaurant review and photograph, 2009 11. Empire Restaurant (Portland) 12. Articles about Chinese restaurants

Box 4: Genealogies and genealogical information, 1875- 1. Do Gun Goon and Toy Len Goon family papers (1892-1993): includes photocopies, photographs (made by Gary Libby 8/2001; 2002; includes a wire service photo of Toy Len Goon shaking hands with First Lady Bess Truman at the White House, diagram of Toy Len Goon’s laundry business (ca. 1940s), Do Gun Goon legal documents (complaint, warrant, docket, entries, testimony, and judgment) and a genealogical “album” [64] p., in spiral binding, Associated Press and International news photos. See also Book of memories: the family of Dogan and Toy Len Goon (S.C. 1047) and Mothers of America: the lasting influence of the Christian home (Box 5). See also photograph of Toy Len Goon and family in “Photographs – People – G” file. 2. Lew Chang Minn family papers: photocopies, 2 photographs 3. Quoy Wong family papers, (1875-1974) photocopies, genealogical chart, journal from trip to China, photographs. Quoy Wong owned the Oriental Restaurant in Bangor. 4. Cough family genealogy – “Vint’s story: a Cough family history,” compiled by Ann Cough McCafferty. See also The descendants of Daniel Cough: booklet prepared for the Cough Family reunion, November 1995, Bar Harbor, Maine (G C831). See also Box 5, Folder 20. 5. Maine marriages involving people with Chinese family names (16 p.), 1896-1966, 1976-1996, comp. by Gary W. Libby, 2002, from Maine Secretary of State’s web site 6. Maine deaths of people with Chinese family names (3 p.) – compiled by Gary Libby 2002 7. color photographs of gravestones in the Portland area. See also box 4, folder 3. Wong family. 8. Petitions for change of names - Wong Kuong Sheu to Henry K. Wong (1956) - Lee Goon Sam to Daniel C. Wong (1958) 9. World War I military records – photocopies, including honorable discharges

Maine Historical Society Coll. 2080

10. U.S. World War II Army enlistment records, 1938-1946 record (from Internet website: Ancestry.com) 11. Photocopy of petition for naturalization – Ah Fang (Navy cook at the Navy Yard in Kittery), ca. 1918-1919 12. Photocopy of Arfoo Fong's naturalization papers, Portland, 1875 (original at Maine State Archives). Arfoo Fong, born in Canton, China, lived in Biddeford, Maine. 13. Photocopy of Ar Tee Lamb’s naturalization papers, Portland, 1875 (original at Maine State Archives). Ar Tee Lamb, born in China, was the first Chinese person in Portland before Arfoo Fong. 14. “Biographical and genealogical notes on some Maine Chinese families” – compiled by Gary Libby 2005 (updated 2006) 14a: Ah-L 14b: Li-Z 15a & b:“Draft of Chinese in Maine” by Gary Libby (2013)

Box 5: Miscellaneous information, ca. 1880- 1. Photographs, including -Washington St., Sanford – shows Charlie Goon Laundry sign (in MHS collections) -Lee Goon, with from Riley & MacFarlane Bakery in Biddeford. Lee Goon owned a laundry at 244 Main St., next door to the bakery, ca. 1916 -Wong family photographs, ca. 1923 and 1927 -Chinese Sunday School picnic, Long Island (?), Me., mid-late 1920s -studio portrait (carte-de-visite?) of Chinese man, taken in Waterville (19th century?) -ca. 2005 photos of contemporary Chinese in Maine, including an organizational meeting of the Maine branch of the Chinese Business Association -Thomas Sing family, owners of Sings Polynesian Restaurant in Bangor -studio portrait of young Chinese man, taken in Portland, Maine (early 20th c.?) -wedding party of Lew Chang Minn and Carolyn Wang, Belfast, Maine, 1940 -Wong’s Laundry, Bangor (1930s or 1940s copy print) -Portland Press Herald copy photos, 2004-2010 -studio portrait of Chinese man, South Parish Congregational Church, Chinese Sunday School, Augusta, ca. 1890 -Tai family photograph, ca. 2004 -Chin-Hsien Chiang photograph, Portland Sea Dogs, ca. 2011 See also photographs within other collections, including folder 26 in this box of Chinese laundries in Portland in 1924 2. Biographical sketches of Maine’s Chinese, by Gary W. Libby, 2012 – now located in box 6 3. Marge Jones collection, 1998-2001. Longtime Rockport community leader 4. I. Lee Nee collection, 1999-2003. Camden artist. 5. Court records, 1902-1911 -Hattie Goon vs. Charles Goon (divorce) -Tsi Linn and Christine Shaw (complaint and warrant, etc.) 6. The Chinese Experience in Maine: a history forum. Held April 12, 2003 at the Maine Historical Society. Brochures and related materials 6

Maine Historical Society Coll. 2080

7. Exhibit labels from MHS exhibit (in relation to 2003 forum) 8. Hung Wah Chinese Laundry list, Gardiner, Maine, bill, ca. 1880 9. Chinese Historical Society of New England newsletter (Fall 2003, v. 9, no. 1) with article by Gary Libby, entitled, “Chinese in Maine.” See also folder 18 this box. 10. Chinese students at Bowdoin College, 1916-1927. 11. Chinese students at Colby College 12. Early Chinese students at Maine colleges (including University of Maine Orono, Bates College, Bowdoin College) 13. China Camp information, 1998-2005 (a camp in Freedom, Maine, for families of children adopted from China) 14. Chinese Gospel Church of Portland, certificate of organization, 2005 15. Harry Wong, Maine’s Chinese American Boxer, by Gary W. Libby, 2007, and Weekly Boxing Review, including Harry Wong 16. Photocopy of immigration records for Chin Hing/Chin Tong, ca. 1918-1934. 17. Ryan Gao photograph and article (“Falmouth senior awarded $100,000 scholarship”), 2010 18. Chinese in Maine, article by Gary Libby in Fall 2003, v. 9, no. 1 CHSNE newsletter (Chinese Historical Society of New England) See also folder 9 this box. 19. Edward J. Guen memorials, 2011 20. Daniel Cough materials, including copy of illustration and article from the Boston Globe (ca. 1850-1860), copy of article from the Tremont Historical Society newsletter about “John Chinaman’s store” in Ellsworth (Daniel Cough), and naturalization petitions (1874-1875) See also box 4, folder 4. 21. Four convictions of Chinese men for crime of fornication and one conviction for furnishing opium, 4/9/1894 22. Maine China Network bylaws and minutes, 2011-2014 (“Think-tank or roundtable for people in Maine who were, are, or will be doing business in China”) 23. Joe Gwong materials (photocopies). Gwong was a laundryman in Old Town, and served time at the Maine State Prison ca. 1939-1941. 24. A Chinese woman’s thoughts on American culture, by Christine Chou (Amalaurie Enterprises, 2009). Christine Chou was born in Taipei, Taiwan and immigrated to the United States in 1980. She lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts until 1986 when she moved to Bangor, Maine. She owns Chinese restaurants. This booklet came about from being a part of Literacy Volunteers. 25. Typescripts by Gary Libby regarding early Chinese residents of Auburn, Bangor, Bath, Belfast, Brunswick, Lewiston, Rockland, Sanford/Springvale, Skowhegan, and Waterville, Maine. 26. Chinese laundries in Portland, 1924 – typescripts and photographs, including -Chin Lee Laundry, 411-413 Cumberland Ave., Portland (1924 assessors copy print) -Toy Wing Laundry, 243 Spring Street, Portland (1924 assessor’s copy print) -Chin Toy Laundry, 534 Washington Ave., Portland (1924 assessor’s copy print) 27. Ben Chin running for mayor of Lewiston, 2015 – newspaper clippings 28. Obituaries of Maine Chinese people – newspaper clippings

Box 5a (Misc. cont.) 29. Maine Chinese people in the news, ca. 1896- - newspaper clippings 7

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30. Chinese Historical Society of New England newsletter with an article by Polly Shih Brandmeyer titled “Becoming American in Bath, Maine” (p. 26-27) 31. Chinese America: History & Perspectives: the journal of the Chinese Historical Society of America 2016 – Special Issue: Chinese American Archives, Collections, and Librarians, which includes an article by Gary Libby: Historical notes on some of Maine’s Chinese hand-laundries and laundrymen 32. Photocopy of “Application for Endorsement by the Board of Registration of Medicine in Maine” for H. L. Tseng, ca. 1954? 33. Confucius Institute at the University of Southern Maine, ca. 2016

Box 6: Biographical sketches of Maine’s Chinese, by Gary W. Libby, 2017 1. CD – Brief Biographies of Maine’s Chinese, 2 pages of draft notes, names Ah – Hing 2. Names Hing (continued) - Sing 3. Names Sing (continued) – Zou

Box 7: Media and printed materials -Toy Len Goon newsreel (video) -Davis, Elizabeth Logan. Mothers of America: the lasting influence of the Christian home. Westwood, NJ: F.H. Revell Co., 1954. Includes chapter on Toy Len Goon, Mother of the Year in 1952 (see also Box 4, folder 1 for more information on the Goon family). -Gerritson, Tess. Bloodstream. New York: Pocket Books, 1998. Along with label an MHS exhibit. Tess Gerritson, a California born medical doctor and New York Times best selling author, is one of the Chinese people who moved to Maine in the 1990s. She lives in Camden with her husband and two sons.

Oversized political lawn sign for Victor Chau, who was just re-elected as a city councilor in Westbrook. (located in O.S. drawers in Compact Storage, 2nd floor – numbered collections)