Recently the Scholarly Communications and Copyright Office released its 2024/2025 Impact and Activity Report, showcasing some of the year’s highlights and accomplishments.
For more information, or to share feedback please contact scholarly.communications@ubc.ca
In our previous blog post, we introduced the remarkable Yucho Chow, a 20th-century Vancouver photographer who pushed back against the discriminatory racial practices of the era by welcoming anyone—regardless of race or nationality—into his studio.
The Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection and the Uno Langmann Family Collection of B.C. Photographs, both available to browse through UBC Open Collections, feature an array of Yucho Chow’s work, including a remarkable album containing studio portraits and ephemera from his business operations.
Advertisement on studio envelope, 1930s (Uno Langmann Collection)
This week, we delve deeper into Chow’s works, examining his photographic style and techniques. We also look at Chow’s legacy, including his lasting impact on marginalized communities in Vancouver, and the amazing project that once again brought his photographs to light.
Photographic style
In alignment with the progressive nature of his business practices, Chow also took a modern and resourceful approach to his craft. He employed creative photo editing skills to “reunite” families through images, collaging family members into the photographs that they could not be physically present for. This was especially important during the 24 years that Canada’s Chinese Immigration Act kept families apart.
Portrait of family with collage, circa 1930s (Uno Langmann Collection)
Another enticing element of Chow’s service was his commitment to high-quality props and backdrops. After his studio was damaged by a fire in 1935, he replaced his previous backdrop—one that expressed “European opulence”—with an Art Deco-themed set, which can be spotted in many of his surviving portraits today.
Group portrait in front of Art Deco backdrop, circa 1930s (Uno Langmann Collection)
As the studio was open 24 hours a day, Chow relied heavily on his family’s help. His eldest daughter, Mabel, played a critical role in the studio’s operations, assisting her father in setting up equipment and developing film. His daughter Jessie used oil paints to provide the studio’s colour services, initially filling in minor details, but eventually moving on to colouring entire photographs.
Hand-painted family wedding portrait, circa 1930s (Uno Langmann Collection)
Legacy
Yucho Chow extensively documented Vancouver’s South Asian community, both in his studio and at cultural events. As cultural researcher Naveen Girn states, without him, there would be “almost no photographs of the early [Vancouver] South Asian community”. Select photos are available to browse through the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive.
In 2024, well-known Vancouver graffiti artist Smokey D. memorialized Chow in a massive mural in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighbourhood, depicting him with a camera alongside the phrase “Welcome to Chinatown”.
The Yucho Chow Project
After Chow’s death in 1949, his sons Philip and Peter continued to run the studio. When they decided to close its doors in 1986, they were faced with a dilemma of what to do with the studio’s massive collection of prints and negatives. Unaware of the full magnitude of their father’s impact, they opted to dispose of the five truckloads worth of materials. While an unfortunate loss, this did not stop Catherine Clement from embarking on the task of tracking down Chow’s works in 2011, unearthing photos from family photo albums, institutional archives, personal collections, and even eBay.
Members of the Chinese student concert in aid of the U.B.C. Stadium Fund, 1931 (Chung Collection)
In 2019, Clement and her team mounted select materials from their 200-photograph collection in an exhibition at the Chinese Cultural Centre, which led to another 300 images being shared with the project. In 2020, they published an award-winning coffee table book entitled “Chinatown Through a Wide Lens: The Hidden Photographs of Yucho Chow.” Upon completion of their incredible project in 2021, Clement and her team donated the collection, which by this time encompassed approximately 600 photos, to the City of Vancouver Archives.
Reclaiming histories
The influence of immigrant communities on Vancouver’s cultural identity has often been obscured through their omission from the city’s historical visual materials. Though much of Chow’s prolific body of work has been lost over time, his surviving images reflect the enduring presence of these communities, countering Canada’s many whitewashed, colonial historical narratives.
Portrait of public servant and community leader Won Alexander Cumyow, circa 1910 (Chung Collection)
Yucho Chow’s work certainly illuminates his own history, including his values, family life, and immigrant experience. But, as Clement states, it also illuminates the histories of the many other “ordinary and everyday people who existed here, who made a contribution here, and were brave enough to come”.
Yucho Chow and family at their residence, between 1900 and 1930 (Uno Langmann Collection)
Learn more
How to Identify a Yucho Chow (Yucho Chow Project)
Yucho Chow Photo Studio (permanent exhibit, Chinatown Storytelling Centre)
References
Cheung, C. (2020, December 29). How Yucho Chow’s photos reframed Vancouver history. The Tyee. https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2020/12/29/Yucho-Chow-Photos-Reframe-Vancouver/
Chinatown through a wide lens: The hidden photographs of Yucho Chow. (n.d.). Yucho Chow. https://www.yuchochow.ca/
Griffin, K. (2019, May 3). ‘Silent’ Yucho Chow photograph has a story again after being identified by family. Vancouver Sun. https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/silent-yucho-chow-photograph-has-a-story-again-after-being-identified-by-family
Peng, J. (2023). Yucho Chow. In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/yucho-chow
Yucho Chow. (2025 August 5). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucho_Chow
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- From the Law Library Staff
See https://hours.library.ubc.ca/#view-law for up-to-date hours, including exception & holiday hours.
The early to mid 1900s marked a time of immense social exclusion for immigrants and people of colour in Vancouver, with most white-run businesses catering solely to Anglo customers. Much of the studio photography that has emerged from this era reflects this reality, obscuring the existence of the city’s immigrant families in the process. However, Yucho Chow, Vancouver’s first Chinese photographer, welcomed everyone into his studio. His works not only elucidate Vancouver’s 20th-century diversity, but provide families otherwise excluded from portrait photography with visual documentation of their histories, too.
Portrait of Chinese family, after 1920 (Uno Langmann Collection)
Yucho Chow opened his Vancouver photography studio in 1907. In alignment with his slogan “Rain or Shine, Anything, Anywhere, Anytime”, Chow photographed anyone who asked. Thus, his customer base largely comprised of those who had historically been denied service by Vancouver’s Anglo photographers, including Punjabi Sikh, Black, Japanese, Indigenous, Ukrainian, and Czech communities.
Yucho Chow Studio envelope, circa 1930s (Uno Langmann Collection)
In 2011, community historian Catherine Clement partnered with the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia to bring together the works of Yucho Chow, most of which were at that time housed in private family photo albums. By unravelling Chow’s story, Clement found that she consequently unravelled a myriad of others, bringing to light the lives of other Vancouver immigrants. These photographs are digitally browsable through the project’s website, as well as the City of Vancouver Archives.
Young person and infant, circa 1930s (Uno Langmann Collection)
In Part 1 of our two-part series about Yucho Chow, we explore his path to becoming one of Vancouver’s most revered chroniclers of 20th-century communities of colour. The Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection and the Uno Langmann Family Collection of B.C. Photographs, both available to browse through UBC Open Collections, feature an array of Yucho Chow’s work, including a remarkable album containing studio portraits and ephemera from his business operations.
Chow’s beginnings
Yucho Chow was born in 1876 in Kaiping, China. In 1902, he immigrated to Canada, where he was forced to pay the Chinese head tax, a shameful, racist legislative policy imposed upon Chinese immigrants by the Canadian government from 1885 to 1923. Little is known about Chow’s life in Vancouver before he opened his studio in 1907, though it is rumoured he worked as a house servant while apprenticing to become a photographer.
Chow opened the Yucho Chow Studio at 68 West Hastings St. in 1907 during a time of widespread and deeply oppressive anti-Asian discrimination in Canada. This was reflected in social attitudes as well as legislation, impacting Asian residents’ access to employment, education, housing. The grand opening of Yucho Chow Studio occurred only a short time before the Vancouver anti-Asian Chinatown riots of 1907. Still, Chow continued to run his successful and well-loved business for 42 years until his passing in 1949.
A group portrait with Yucho Chow at front centre, circa 1930s (Uno Langmann Collection)
Chow’s subjects
Chow invited all customers to be photographed in his studio. Here, he took portraits of newlyweds, families, babies, and even the recently deceased, providing families with photos to send back home as “informal death certificates”. He also documented these communities outside his studio, capturing everyday moments as well as organized events like celebrations, graduations, and clan gatherings.
Strathcona Elementary School kindergarten class portrait, after 1920 (Chung Collection)
Even more progressive than his embrace of customers of all races and nationalities was Chow’s openness to photographing interracial marriages, which were deemed widely unacceptable across many social and cultural lines.
Advertisement in City of Vancouver Police Department Publication, 1921 (BC Historical Books Collection)
For marginalized Vancouver residents who experienced daily exclusion in so many other social domains, it wasn’t just Chow’s chronicling of their histories that was impactful, but his inclusivity, too.
Quon On Jan Travel Agency,1915 (Chung Collection)
Stay tuned…
… For Part 2, where we explore Chow’s style, techniques, and legacy.
Learn more
Through a Wide Lens – The Hidden Photographs of Yucho Chow (video by Catherine Clement & the Vancouver Historical Society, 2020)
Yucho Chow’s Vancouver (photo essay, The Tyee, 2019)
References
Cheung, C. (2020, December 29). How Yucho Chow’s photos reframed Vancouver history. The Tyee. https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2020/12/29/Yucho-Chow-Photos-Reframe-Vancouver/
Chinatown through a wide lens: The hidden photographs of Yucho Chow. (n.d.). Yucho Chow. https://www.yuchochow.ca/
Griffin, K. (2019, May 3). ‘Silent’ Yucho Chow photograph has a story again after being identified by family. Vancouver Sun. https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/silent-yucho-chow-photograph-has-a-story-again-after-being-identified-by-family
Peng, J. (2023). Yucho Chow. In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/yucho-chow
Yucho Chow. (2025 August 5). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucho_Chow
Entrance to Special Collections. UBC Archives Photograph Collection. UBC 1.1/15912
Starting September 1, 2025, Rare Books and Special Collection (RBSC) and University Archives (UA) has moved to appointment-based Reading Room visits. This change will allow us to continue to serve library patrons during a construction project impacting our access to storage areas. We will be unable to accommodate walk-in visits until further notice.
If you would like to request RBSC or UA materials to consult in the Reading Room, please schedule an appointment at least 24 hours in advance during weekday business hours. In order to allow sufficient time to retrieve these materials, we encourage library patrons to provide as much advanced notice as possible for their requests.
If you are unable to schedule an appointment using our online booking system, please email rare.books@ubc.ca or call 604 822-2521.
Also due to ongoing upgrades, the Rare Books and Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room has temporarily relocated down the hall to a satellite reading room in Irving K. Barber Learning Centre room 142.
Reading Room hours for Winter Term II (January – April, 2026) will be Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Please note: Instructional support for classes will be unavailable during the winter II term due to construction. We will be able to provide instructional support for class / group visits starting in summer term I (May 2026).
Thank you for your patience!
Browsing UBC Open Collections, one can find several instances of comparison between Western Canadian mountain ranges and the Swiss Alps. This postcard book, for example, labels the Rockies as the “Switzerland of America”.
20 Beautiful View of the Canadian Pacific Rockies, The Road through the Switzerland of America (Uno Langmann Collection, circa 1920s)
Like the Swiss Alps, Western Canada’s mountainous landscapes boast jaw-dropping elevation, striking snow-capped tips, and spectacular greenery, providing justification for these comparisons. This stereograph names Mt. Sir Donald, located within the Columbia Mountains, the “Matterhorn of the North American Alps”, with its back caption claiming that the “scenery is quite like that of the Swiss Alps, but on a much grander scale”.
It’s no surprise, then, that in 1928, highly respected German-American film director Ernst Lubitsch chose to pass off our humble Rockies as their world-famous Swiss counterparts in his film Eternal Love. Several photos from the Uno Langmann Family Collection of British Columbia Photographs document the Lake Louise, Alberta shoot, permitting the viewer a behind-the-scenes glimpse into a fascinating era of filmmaking.
Lubitsch lying on wooden structure on set of Eternal Love (Uno Langmann Collection, 1928)
Created at the end of the silent film and beginning of the sound film era, Eternal Love has no spoken dialogue, but is accompanied by a musical score and sound effects, constituting it as a hybrid silent/sound film. It would be the last silent film for Lubitsch, as well as for its lead actors John Barrymore and Camilla Horn.
Shooting Eternal Love
Using Banff National Park’s stunning landscape as its alpine backdrop, Eternal Love tells the story of two Swiss lovers destined to be together despite being trapped in passionless marriages to other people. Filming locations include Sentinel Pass and the summit of Saddleback Pass.
Horn and Barrymore on location (Uno Langmann Collection, 1928)
The Uno Langmann Collection holds some remarkable images depicting Eternal Love’s direction and cinematography.
On set (1928, Uno Langmann Collection)
Photos also portray other integral behind-the-scenes moments, including the hair and makeup team preparing actors for their moment in the spotlight.
Actors getting ready (1928, Uno Langmann Collection)
Local Perspectives
Excerpts from the BC Historical Newspaper Collection give insight into the Canadian perception of the film shoot at the time, as well as its run in local movie theatres after its release.
An article from The Greenwood Ledge details how Barrymore refused the use of a double in his portrayal of “daredevil mountaineer” Marcus, only to sprain both ankles during the shoot.
The Greenwood Ledge, December 13th, 1928
A blurb in The Princeton Star’s “Here and There” section describes how the crew transported “Hollywood snow” to Lake Louise, only to learn it had been unnecessary upon seeing the vista covered in the real thing.
The Princeton Star, December 6th, 1928
Nelson, BC’s The Daily News advertises a screening at its local Capitol Theatre, describing the film as “searing, seething, cyclonic—a tempestuous heart drama”.
The Daily News, August 12, 1928
The Legacy of Eternal Love
After its original theatrical release, Eternal Love was considered lost for many decades. However, in 1990, a 16mm print was discovered in the film collection of actress and film producer Mary Pickford, and was subsequently rereleased in theatres with its original music and sound effects.
The film was never a massive commercial or critical success, with reviews at the time criticizing its weak script and at-times-overdramatic acting. Nevertheless, it has remained well-respected for its beautiful scenery and photography, confirmed by the stunning behind-the-scenes images that have since emerged.
Mountainside view of Eternal Love shoot (1928, Uno Langmann Collection)
While Eternal Love is certainly not considered one of the greatest films of all time, it features some major players in early 20th-century film and remains loved by many. And for Western Canadians at the time, the film’s local production was a source of excitement and pride.
Note: Photos from the Uno Langmann Collection depicting the Eternal Love film set contain some inaccurate metadata, including provided titles referring to the film as Le Roi de la Bernina (possibly its working title) and a description stating it was filmed in B.C. The Digitization Centre is aware of these inaccuracies, and will be correcting these errors after the completion of our digital asset management system migration.
As an institution, the library has experienced profound transformations across history. Shifts in technology, education, and social values mean that the library is no longer solely an institution of intellectual discovery, but one of leisure, recreation, and community engagement, too.
UBC Open Collections holds many materials which map the history of the library, including catalogues of past library holdings, annual library reports to the UBC Senate, and historical images depicting the interiors, exteriors, staff, and patrons of UBC libraries.
[Main Library] (Alma Mater Society Image Collection, 1956)
However, the Open Collections items that most thoroughly chronicle the institutional evolution of the library are Biblos and the UBC Library Staff Bulletin, both housed within the UBC Publications Collection.
UBC Library Staff Bulletin
The UBC Library Staff Bulletin (published as the UBC Library Bulletin), whose run in Open Collections spans from 1968 to 2005, was a newsletter for library staff featuring official library news and communications from on-campus and beyond.
UBC Library Bulletin, February 1976
Biblos
Biblos, which ran from 1964 to 1973, aimed to bridge the gap between UBC’s numerous library branches through announcements, comics, and written pieces submitted by staff.
How many miles? (Biblos, November 1969)
The Biblos editorial committee encouraged staff to “mak[e] [their] opinions known” (Biblos, October 1964), and many did just that, playfully airing their grievances about patrons, faculty, and even their co-workers.
Message to [Faculty Members]… (Biblos, September 1969)
Changes in Technology
One of the historical changes most clearly illustrated by the UBC Library Bulletin is the evolution of libraries’ use of technology. Though electronic resources like online catalogues, databases, and audiobooks are commonplace in libraries today, the bulletins remind us that patronizing the library was a wholly different experience fifty years ago.
“Books on Tape for the Blind”
In 1971, staff from UBC’s Crane Library for the Blind participated in a project to read books on tape for blind students, with the cassettes to be made available for interlibrary loan across Canada. Today, audiobooks may be ubiquitous, but this initiative was an example of the early accessibility work of the Crane Library.
UBC Library Bulletin, December 1971
“Card Catalogue Conversion to Computer File Begins”
The November 1977 bulletin reported that, alongside the Library of Congress, UBC Library had begun the process of converting their card catalogue to computer files.
Card Catalogue area of Main Library (UBC Archives Photograph Collection, 1970s)
This transition marked a massive shift in the field. UBC Library’s original computer filing system would likely seem crude compared to current digital cataloguing, but the ability to make edits to library records as needed proved vastly more convenient than their previous system.
UBC Library Bulletin, November 1977
UBC Library even held a ceremony to commemorate the last card entered into their physical catalogue!
Ceremony for the last card inserted in UBC Library catalogue (UBC Archives Photograph Collection, 1979)
“The Electronic Library is Coming”
Illuminating just how much more convenient the search for information has become, 1993’s October bulletin announced that UBC Library was on its way to becoming an “electronic library”, stating that they would be acquiring electronic materials like CD-ROMS and promising “free access to students for up to 20 minutes daily to electronic mail”.
UBC Library Bulletin, October 1993
Shifting Social Values
Even some of the seemingly mundane communications found in these publications reveal the social attitudes and issues of their time.
“MMMMMMMMM?”
1973’s July bulletin addressed the use of the salutation Ms., noting that while some staff continued to use Miss and Mrs., others “prefer[red] to have their marital status undefined”. It recommended that salutations be omitted from staff communications, evidencing the long-fought-for autonomy and self-determination women were finally beginning to experience.
UBC Library Bulletin, July 1973
Tracing Historical Events
Some library communications even alluded to the political conversations occurring during their respective eras.
“Russia VS. Soviet Union in the Subject Catalogue”
In August 1986, the UBC Library Bulletin announced that the library would be following the Library of Congress’s lead and revising the “Russia” subject heading to “Soviet Union”. The author emphasizes the complex and taxing nature of this revision process—one that they would unfortunately have to reconsider just a few years later.
UBC Library Bulletin, August 1986
Enduring Workplace Dynamics
While these materials evidence just how much a field can transform over the years, staff’s quippy blurbs and doodles, like the one below, demonstrate that interpersonal annoyances, institutional grievances, and playful camaraderie in the workplace are universal and enduring.
We are threatened (Biblos, October 1964)
Librarians: the real MVPs
One thing that remains unchanged throughout this history is the endlessly resourceful nature of librarians, who expertly adapt within an ever-changing industry.
Librarian Joan Sandilands helping student in Library (UBC Archives Photograph Collection, 1977)
Librarians remain unparalleled researchers and problem solvers, and have continued to provide an invaluable service across many decades.
Please lend to me! (Biblos, October 1964)
Summer is the perfect time to discover something new, and this month’s additions to the Education Library offer stories, ideas, and inspiration for all ages. Our July list features picture books, middle-grade fiction, graphic novels, and professional resources—alongside titles that explore pressing topics such as climate change, identity, Indigenous knowledge, and the power of community.
Whether you’re looking for teaching resources, beautifully illustrated read-alouds, or thought-provoking graphic novels, there’s something here for every reader. Browse the list below to see what’s new!