It’s the Cream of the Crop!

Many thanks to guest blogger Gabriella J. Cigarroa for contributing the below post! Gabriella is a graduate student at the UBC School of Information and recently completed a Co-op work term with Rare Books and Special Collections Library.


It’s the Cream of the Crop!: The B.C. Dairy Historical Society Collection

As a Co-op Project Archivist in Fall 2024, I processed the B.C. Dairy Historical Society collection. Since 1998, the B.C. Dairy Historical Society (BCDHS) has collected a breadth of records documenting the history of the provincial dairy industry. Used to write books including Jane Watt’s Milk Stories: A History of the Dairy Industry in British Columbia, 1827-2000 and High Water: Living with the Fraser Floods, this collection includes a wealth of journals, photographs, and records from provincial dairy organizations and producers. Materials originated from the Fraser Valley Milk Producers’ Association (now known as Agrifoods, and owners of Dairyland until 2001), Palm Dairies (a dairy local to Vancouver that was bought by Dairyland in 1989), and assorted dairy industry professionals and enthusiasts. 

Some photos of my favorite finds in the collection are shared below: 

RBSC-ARC-1875-AR-04: St. Charles Evaporated Cream [cow-shaped clock]

RBSC-ARC-1875-AR-07: [Movie camera and attachments]

A movie camera owned by Neil Gray, who was a driving force in the B.C. dairy industry as a previous General Manager for the Fraser Valley Milk Producers’ Association, Director of the National Dairy Council of Canada, President of the B.C. Dairy Council, and member of the B.C .Dairy Historical Society.

 

RBSC-ARC-1875-SPLP-07 – Approaching Prospects. One of two LPs from the 1940s, records of salescasts presented by the Milk Industry Foundation that were used to evaluate and teach dairy salesmen. Each is a one-of-a-kind reference recording, used to test the master recording before making copies to distribute.

 

 

As of 2023, dairy was the top agricultural commodity in B.C. This collection documents the work of dairy co-operatives, producers, and other industry professionals to develop that market.  

If you think about us the next time you visit the dairy aisle at your local grocery store, please contact RBSC about making a research visit. 

Indigenous Stories of the Klondike Gold Rush: Part 2 – Chief Isaac

In our last post, we introduced the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in people and the important role they played during the Klondike Gold Rush era, guided by photos from the Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection. This week, we examine the impacts the Gold Rush migration had on the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in and their traditional territory, and meet ever-revered Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in chief Chief Isaac.

For important contextual information about 19th– and 20th-century photographic representations of Indigenous people, and the outdated language present in the Phil Lind Collection, please visit our previous blog post.

Impact on the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in & the land

Settler descriptions of the landscape during the Klondike Gold Rush era painted an image of a hostile territory, portraying the land as “treacherous [and] empty”, despite the fact that it was inhabited by around 200 Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in people at the time.

Though many prospectors did not intend to settle permanently, historian Charlotte Gray nonetheless describes the migration as one of conquest. Photos in the Phil Lind Collection show sprawls of tents around the Yukon and Klondike Rivers, offering a visual representation of the magnitude of the migration.

“Klondike City, and the mouth of Klondike R.” (1898)

As plots of land in Dawson City were too expensive for many prospectors, they began to occupy Tr’ochëk, a traditional Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in fishing settlement along the Yukon River, even erecting their tents between Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in homes.

Tr’ochëk after settler occupation, labelled “Klondyke City” (1899)

They renamed the settlement Klondike City, an English corruption of “Tr’ondëk”, which translates to “hammer river”.

This photo’s caption gives credit to the origin of the river’s name, though mistranslates it (sometime after 1896)

This occupation had drastic impacts on the natural landscape upon which the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in relied for centuries, forcing them to change their traditional survival patterns. Settlers chopped down trees, ripped up creeks, and overhunted, which resulted in a major decrease in moose and caribou.

Settlers were not only generally careless about the damage they caused to the land, but were also apathetic or even hostile toward the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in people.

Chief Isaac

The lasting legacy of Chief Isaac, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in chief during the Klondike era, is one of strength and resilience for the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in people. A skilled negotiator and vocal advocate for his people, he was respected by the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in and settlers of Dawson City alike.

While few settlers attempted to learn the Hän language, Chief Isaac (whose traditional name is not known) learned English, giving public speeches and advocating for his people in local newspapers, including the Klondike Nugget and the Dawson Daily News.

Dawson Daily News (1909), one of the newspapers in the Phil Lind Collection

Chief Isaac worked hard to maintain diplomatic relations with the settlers, but was unafraid of criticizing their indifference toward their dispossession of his people. In a local newspaper, he wrote:

“Million white man come and cut down Indian’s wood, kill Indian’s game, take Indian’s gold out of the ground,

give Indian nothing. Game all gone, wood all gone, Indian cold and hungry, white man no care.”

As the stampeders’ incursion on Tr’ochëk became increasingly invasive, Chief Isaac decided to relocate his people. They set their sights on Moosehide Village, a traditional fishing camp south of Dawson City. Despite friction from the Northwest Mounted Police, who had unofficially laid claim on the site for their new compound, Chief Isaac was resolute. In 1900, the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in moved to Moosehide Village, where they built a thriving community.

“Chief Isaac’s Salmon-Racks” (published in book in 1900)

 Legacy of the Klondike Gold Rush 

The Klondike Gold Rush had lasting impacts on the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in and their territory. Their rivers’ gold held the promise of great prosperity for the nation, however, the descent of 100,000 prospectors decimated their land, displaced them, and as former Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in chief Chief Roberta Joseph states, “left [them] with nothing”.

Cultural portrayals of the Klondike Gold Rush have historically been recounted from a settler perspective, obscuring the experiences of First Nations peoples. As Kaska Dene artist Joseph Tisiga notes, the cultural identity of the Yukon Territory hinges upon a romanticization of the Gold Rush era, negating the rich cultures of Indigenous communities that have inhabited the region for millennia.

Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in territory, in a book about the Yukon (1898)

The Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in today

The mass settler migration of the Klondike Gold Rush era had deeply damaging impacts on the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in and their territory. Despite having to adapt their traditional ways, they maintained many cultural practices, and the nation thrives today. Like all First Nations in the Yukon Territory, they are self-governing, enabling them to guide the law that governs their land.

The Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in are committed to preserving and practicing their culture and teaching it to future generations. They hold biennial gatherings at Moosehide Village, have established the Dänojà Zho Cultural Centre, and teach Hän in schools.

View of the Yukon River from Moosehide Trail, which leads to Moosehide Village (1908)

Tr’ochëk was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2002, emphasizing it as a core component of Hän, Yukon, and Canadian heritage. During the Klondike Gold Rush, settler occupation may have rendered the location one of great turmoil. But today, Tr’ochëk is a tranquil place where Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in citizens and others can reflect on the land’s expansive Indigenous history, which began long before the Klondike Gold Rush.

Celebrating Pride Month 2025

A beach ball with the word Love sits in the foreground of a wall painted with 2SLGBTQIA rainbow stripes.

Photo used by permission of UBC Equity & Inclusion

June is Pride month in Canada– a time dedicated to celebrating 2SLGBTQIA+ communities and equal rights advocacy.  Research and scholarship centering 2SLGBTQIA+ interests, experiences, and perspectives is an important part of ongoing efforts to enhance the visibility and inclusivity of under- or misrepresented communities and contribute to positive change.

Explore these collection highlights in cIRcle to inspire and inform your Pride month celebrations:

The Queer Geography Dictionary is a collaboration of UBC Okanagan’s ‘Queer Geographies’ class (GEOG/GWST 426) to create a “handbook that can guide current and future queer geographers on the evolution and understanding of key terms, ” (Onyx Sloan Morgan and Nassim Zand Dizari, 2025).

First published online in 2007 and given a permanent home in cIRcle in 2023, Homosexuality in the Early Modern World : A Collection of Student-Edited Texts is the result of another collaborative student effort to create a resource that supports ongoing research and scholarship.

Landscape Architecture graduate, Madelaine Snelgrove, combines personal narrative and design research in Home in the Garden : Queery Domesticity and the Provision of Place. A sense of security, place, and possibility is also central to Shannon Srivastava’s Master’s thesis in Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice: To be safe and included : SOGI 1 2 3 and the (re)production of the acceptable queer subject, 

The Positive Space Working Group Final Report presents the results of space training workshops delivered to UBC Vancouver Library employees as part of the group’s mandate to “build knowledge and capacity for LGBT2SQIA+ inclusion at UBC Library” (Vining, E. et al, 2018).

Looking for more?

Use the above links to explore related items of interest in cIRcle, or learn more about designing and refining your search with Advanced Search in Open Collections to Find cIRcle Content.

Deposit Your Research

Do you have a research article or coursework that you’d like to archive in cIRcle? Visit our Submissions page for deposit instructions or contact us.

Further Reading

Pride at UBC. List of events, resources, and initiatives.  Accessed May 21, 2025.

‘Inclusion should trump exclusion,’ new book reminds 2SLGBTQ+ students the law is on their side. UBC News. Published December 7, 2021. Accessed May 21, 2025.

Learning from queer and trans youth in research. Seminar Series. Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy. Accessed May 21, 2025.

New Books at Education Library: May & June 2025

Welcome to our May & June 2025 Booklist!
This special joint edition features over 50 newly arrived titles across a wide range of genres, including engaging picture books and young adult novels, as well as professional resources for educators, researchers, and those working in higher education.

  • Picture books and children’s literature highlighting themes of friendship, nature, culture, and community

  • Young adult novels exploring activism, identity, grief, and self-discovery

  • Professional and academic titles on teaching practice, qualitative research, higher education, and global learning

  • Memoirs and biographies that share personal journeys—from Holocaust survival to Indigenous activism and international experiences

  • Informative nonfiction covering climate change, ecosystems, water conservation, and more

Click on a book cover to preview the title on Google Books. Click on the title to check availability or place a hold through the UBC Library catalogue.

BF637.M56 M33 2021 Me and my sit spot / Lauren MacLean ; illustrated by Anna Panchuk.

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HV1431 .O35 2024 Road home / Rex Ogle.

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PZ7.G65435 Tr 2024 Trajectory / Cambria Gordon.

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PZ7.1.E274 Fl 2024 The Flicker / H.E. Edgmon.

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PZ7.1.C6334 Lo 2024 Looking for smoke / K.A. Cobell.

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PZ7.1.F5347 Ri 2024 Rise / Freya Finch.

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PZ7.1.K58384 Fr 2024 A friend for Eddy / Ann Kim Ha.

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PZ7.1.Y365 Pri 2022 Private label / Kelly Yang.

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PZ7.1.W3645 Su 2024 Summer at Squee / Andrea Wang.

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Indigenous Stories of the Klondike Gold Rush: Part 1 – The Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in

In last month’s blog post, we took you on an introductory tour of the realities of the Klondike Gold Rush era alongside the Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection. We continue this tour with Part 1 of a two-part series about Indigenous stories of the Klondike Gold Rush, namely that of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in people.

In Part 1, we identify the Indigenous people central to the Gold Rush’s discovery narrative. We also explore the history of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in people, and the crucial role they played during the Klondike Gold Rush era.

Portraits of Indigenous people (nations unknown; between 1897 and 1924)

A note on historical photographs of Indigenous people

It is difficult to ascertain the context or intent behind the photographs of Indigenous people in the Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection. 19th and 20th century settler photography of Indigenous people was sometimes shot under exploitative circumstances, or misidentified its subjects. However, many photographs from this time were produced with full control and consent from their Indigenous subjects.

For more information, refer to Looks Can Be Deceiving: Issues Regarding 19th-Century Native American Photographs, which guided the above statement.

Indigenous people, who have inhabited the land now known as the Yukon Territory for millennia, have long been excluded from Gold Rush narratives. While photographs of Indigenous people in this collection may have been produced from a colonial or voyeuristic perspective, they are visual evidence of the presence and impact of Indigenous people during the Klondike Gold Rush era. These photos have been included in this post as a means of revising Eurocentric Gold Rush narratives that invisibilize both the labour and the existence of Indigenous communities during this period.

A note on outdated language in the Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection

Outdated terms for Indigenous people exist in this collection, and are present in two photographs in this post. Inclusion of these materials is not an endorsement of this language. In addition to the above noted purpose, these documents also preserve “historical evidence of social conditions and attitudes” of the era.

These photos are intended to be viewed through a critical lens, keeping in mind their historical context.

Indigenous Icons of the Gold Rush

For decades after its end, the lore of the Klondike Gold Rush primarily credited George Cormack, a white settler, with spotting the first traces of gold in the Yukon River. While it was often noted that Tagish men Skookum Jim (Keish) and Tagish Charlie (K̲áa Goox̱) were by his side, cultural representations portrayed them as just that: sidekicks.

A group of white prospectors pan for gold in the Klondike (1899)

It is now understood that it was just as likely that Skookum Jim, Tagish Charlie, or Cormack’s wife, a Tagish woman named Kate (Shaaw Tláa) had first made the fateful discovery, but that Cormack had registered the official claim because he was white.

While decades of retellings of the Klondike Gold Rush era have centered the stories of white prospectors, the Indigenous communities of the Yukon not only played a pivotal role in the Klondike Gold Rush, but were also profoundly affected by the mass migration.

A group of Indigenous boys and men stand in front of a tent (1908)

History of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in

The Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in people, or the People of the Hammer-Rock River, are descendants of the Hän, who have inhabited the Yukon Territory for thousands of years. For centuries, the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in traversed their territory as the seasons shifted, gathering berries in the fall and hunting in the winters.

Photos in the Phil Lind Collection show the vastness of the Yukon River, where the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in spent summers fishing for salmon.

“Telephoto view down Yukon from Dawson” (between 1895 and 1900)

Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Territory

The territory of Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in people extends from the Yukon River valley through to the Blackstone Uplands.

The Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection features many photos of the landscape surrounding the Yukon River, where the traditional Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in territory is located.

Postcard depicting Forty Mile Town, a traditional harvest and hunting area for the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in (1898)

The “heart” of their territory is Tr’ochëk, the land between the Klondike and Yukon Rivers. The Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in fished, hunted, and held cultural events on this land for hundreds of years before the Gold Rush. In the late 1800s, stampeders would occupy this area, displacing the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in.

This photo from the Phil Lind Collection shows Tr’ochëk:

“Mouth of the Klondyke, showing lower town and Yukon River, Alaska” (1899)

Role of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in in the Gold Rush Era  

During the Klondike Gold Rush, the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in worked as hunters, porters, and traders, as well as on paddlewheelers, at building sites, and on claims.

A group of Indigenous men and boys rest on the Dyea trail (1897)

Their expertise was invaluable to prospectors who were unfamiliar with the territory, and their skills were often preferred over those of settlers. The meat supplied by Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in hunters was at some points crucial to the survival of Dawson City residents.

While they tried to coexist harmoniously with stampeders, the Gold Rush had dire social and environmental implications for the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in. Despite this, their culture and tradition has endured, and they remain a strong, self-governing nation to this day.

Stay tuned…

… for Part 2, where we delve into the impacts of the Klondike Gold Rush on the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in and explore the nation’s contemporary history. We also meet Chief Isaac, the revered chief of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in during the Klondike Gold Rush.

Congratulations, Grad Class of 2025!

Congratulations, Grad Class of 2025 Best wishes and good luck, From the Law Library Staff

Open Access Article Publishing at UBC: Annual Report

Open Access Article Publishing at UBC: Annual Report

2023/2024

The Scholarly Communications and Copyright Office has released the 2023/24 Open Access Article Publishing at UBC Report. This report provides an overview of yearly open access (OA) article publishing trends at UBC and seeks to increase transparency around financial conditions for OA article publishing, and to highlight the impact of publisher negotiations on OA at UBC. For more information, or to share feedback please contact scholarly.communications@ubc.ca.

Mental Health Awareness Display in the Law Library

Upcoming Chung | Lind Gallery Closure

“North Shore Pier Construction.” 4 Sept. 1937. University of British Columbia. Library. Rare Books and Special Collections. The Chung Collection. CC_PH_09370_017_007.

The Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection and Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection Gallery will be closed from April 29 to May 17 inclusive due to a nearby construction project in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. Normal Gallery hours will resume on Tuesday, May 20. We apologize for any inconvenience!

During the closure, we invite you to browse digitized materials from the Chung and Lind Collections, and enjoy stories from the Chung | Lind Gallery Blog.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the RBSC contact form or by sending an email to rare.books@ubc.ca.

 

Quon On: A Legacy of Travel, Trade, and Community in Chinese Canada

This blog post is part of RBSC’s blog series spotlighting items in the Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection and the Wallace B. and Madeline H. Chung Collection.

Mar June, center to the direct right of man in light suit. Mar Yee Why to the left of the light suit. Ma Wah Kan, on the far left by himself.
Yucho Chow Studio. 1915. “Quon On Jan Travel Agency, Maw Sun Hay – Owner.” Chung Collection. CC-PH-00425. B&W Photograph on matting. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0216673.

In this photo by Yucho Chow dating to the 1920s we see a group of sharp businessmen in front of the Quon On Jan company store. This photo shows more than just a snapshot of daily life in bygone days – this place was not just a business, but a lifeline for Chinese Canadians navigating immigration, trade, and community life. In this blog we will talk about some of the identified men in this photo and their lives in the context of the Quon On business. This company, alongside its affiliate Quon On Co., was instrumental in the maritime and railway travel networks linking British Columbia to Asia and the United States. At the helm of Quon On Jan was Mar June 馬駿 (centre, farthest on the right), also known by the name 馬心喜—a powerful merchant.

From Ow Ben, Toisan to East Pender Street

Earliest known photo of Mar June, C. 1905. US National Archives and Records Administration. Mar June, Chinese Exclusion Case Files. Box 341 Case 7027/70

Mar June’s origins trace back to the village of Ow Ben, Toisan (歐邊), in Kwonghoi township (廣海) Canton Province. His entry into Canada was recorded as May 1, 1895 on some documents, aligning with a later registration in 1909 upon arrival in Victoria from Seattle aboard the Canadian Pacific SS Princess Victoria. In that 1895 ledger he was listed as a merchant, aged 31, with no head tax recorded—a hint that he may have actually entered and become established before full enforcement of the Chinese Immigration Act. In US National Archives materials, there is ample evidence he travelled between Seattle, Port Townsend, Victoria, and Vancouver often during the years before the 1923 Canadian Exclusion Act was passed.[i]

By 1923, Mar June’s Quon On Jan firm was operating at 137-139 E Pender Street, sharing space with the Ma Gim Doo Hung (馬金紫堂 Mah Family Society). He most likely had a major role purchasing this plot of land and establishing the Mah clan’s hall on this prominent stretch of Chinatown’s commercial thoroughfare when they moved from a rooming house on Cambie St in 1920. This building remains a prominent historical landmark and continues to host the Mah Society of Vancouver. By 1924-1925 Quon On Jan moved to the address shown in the Yucho photo, 295 E Pender.

Detail from an ad and steamship timetable. The Chinese Times [Tai hon Kong Bo Ltd 大漢公報]. 民國十一年九月二十五日 [Sept 25 1922], Chinese Freemasons of Canada [加拿大洪門致公堂] Volume 21, No. 51. Pg. 8

By this period had also established himself as a Chinese Agent for the Blue Funnel Line—a role he had filled in Vancouver since at least 1914, according to early issues of the Chinese Times. This company was an rival to the Canadian Pacific Steamships; ticket agents representing Blue Funnel often were competing with the prominent Yip Family which represented Canadian Pacific. He likely assumed the Blue Funnel portfolio after Lee Kee, roughly parallel to prominent merchant Seto More who gained the title of Canadian Pacific Chinese agent from the Yips. Additionally, he represented the Canadian National Railways and the Admiral Line, a subsidiary of the Pacific Steamship Company that operated from 1918 to 1936. This latter business likely puts him in direct contact with his relation Harry Mar Dong, a subject of a previous blog.

Mar June in the 1920s or 1930s. US National Archives and Records Administration. Mar June, Chinese Exclusion Case Files. Box 341 Case 7027/70

A Brotherhood of Agents and Merchants

Quon On Jan was not an isolated operation. The wider Mah family and their associates formed a tightly knit web of clan, trade, business, and community roles.

Mar Chan (馬進 also known as Mar Kok Leu/Len, not pictured in the Chow photo), from Kwonghoi, was an elder among Chinese ticket agents in Victoria. Likely a mentor of Mar June, he had arrived in Victoria before the head tax via San Francisco, and as early as 1898 he was a longstanding cannery labor contractor. Like with the Yip family, power and money from Chinese ticketing developed alongside control over where indebted labourers worked through perilous contracts, especially in canneries and farms. Eventually Mar Chan became the head of all Chinese agents for the Blue Funnel Line through both Quon On Co. and Quon On Jan. His business firm and family compound at 529 Cormorant Street, Victoria became a key address used by many Chinese workers registering under the Exclusion Act. He retired to China, his gold mountain dream, in 1928 at the age of 80, after 57 years in Canada. His departure would align with a new generation of brokers, ticket agents, merchants and translators arriving at the forefront of Chinatown life.[ii]

Mar Chan retiring to China. Mar Chan AKA Mar Kok Yen “Records of Entry and Other Records” 1928-06-06/1930-09-11,  Microfilm, Canadian Immigration Service, RG 76, T-16586, Image134, CI 9 #053730, Library and Archives Canada.

One of these up-and-comers was Mar Yee Why 馬余槐/淮 (centre, second from left of the four), possibly a cousin or associate of Mar June. Known later as Fred Bing Yee, he arrived in 1918 on the CPR Empress of Japan and began work as a passenger agent for Quon On Co., frequently traveling between Victoria and Vancouver. He journeyed to Seattle throughout the harsh Exclusion era in his private car, connected to Quon On’s operations. His comparative ease of travel across this rigid border often hostile to Chinese is noteworthy; Yee even returned from China in 1933 aboard the SS Ixion in second class—a rarity for Chinese Canadians, but fitting for someone deeply involved in international travel logistics.[iii] He later served as an accountant for the Young Fong Co. and passed away in 1963, survived by his wife, two sons, and a daughter.

The Rise of a Power Couple: Frank Mah and Mary Lam

As the 1930s approached, Frank Mah Fook Shung 馬福崇 emerged as a vital figure in the evolution of Quon On. He married Mary Lam, the daughter of Chung Ling Lam of the Hong Wo store in Richmond, in 1931. Around this point the Quon On partnership dissolved, with Quon On Co. of Victoria and Vancouver continuing as Blue Funnel Agents under Frank’s management, while Quon On Jan became American Mail Line and Dollar Line Agents, with Mar June remaining CNR ticketing agent.

Us National Archives and Records Administration. Frank Mah Fook Shung. Chinese Exclusion Case Files. Box 341 Case 7027/91

Initially the couple lived above Quon On Co.’s new address at 254½ Pender St, but later moved to the Cumberland Apartments on 14th Ave, making the couple early Chinese Canadian residents of Vancouver’s West Side, contemporaries of Tong Louie and Geraldine Seto in Point Grey. The Mah’s became known for their hospitality, hosting dignitaries and leaders of Chinatown as key parts of Vancouver “society life.”

Mary Lam Travelling to the US with her husband. Us National Archives and Records Administration. Frank Mah Fook Shung. Chinese Exclusion Case Files. Box 341 Case 7027/91

Frank was the English Secretary of the Chinese Merchants Association and a prolific presence in the English newspapers of the time. He coordinated the mass exodus of poor Chinese elderly “bachelor” men post-repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1947. Quon On’s reputation had remained strong into the post-war period, with the firm acting as agent for American President Lines, one of the only lines Chinese Canadians who wished to return to China for retirement could take home—particularly as CPR limited its passenger service from BC.

Frank Mah, centre beneath the Republic of China flag with unidentified Chinese woman. Detail from Soroptomist club of Vancouver [Chinese Appreciation Dinner] RBSC-ARC-1679-CC-PH-11023, Chung Collection, 24 Feb. 1942. B&W Photograph

After Frank’s untimely death in 1948, Mary Lam took over the business and transformed it. As Mary Mah (or often in newspapers as Mrs. Frank Mah), she became a travel entrepreneur, Chinese art collector, and a cultural ambassador of sorts. Quon On under her direction eventually rebranded as Quon On Travel Service, representing Canadian Pacific Air and arranging luxurious global tours. In 1959, for example, she offered a 38-day Pacific Orient travel package visiting Hawaii, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, and Hong Kong for $1,795, with a discounted rate for companions.[iv]

A Cultural Legacy

Mary Mah was much more than a travel agent. She was a member of the Soroptimists Club, active in the Pender Y, and taught Cantonese cooking at UBC’s Home Economics building as part of extension courses. She was a supporter of the Chinatown News magazine through her frequent purchase of advertisement space, and was a noteworthy bridge between early local born Chinese and those following in the 1940s and 1950s. These efforts helped broaden understanding and appreciation of Chinese culture in British Columbia during the 1960s.[v] She lectured widely on art, politics, and the cosmopolitan life of Hong Kong.

In 1960, Quon On Co. found itself peripherally involved in the RCMP’s sweeping investigations into “paper sons.” While the company did not engage in document fraud, it occasionally referred inquiries about getting fake documents to George Lim, Mary’s brother and head of Hong Wo store, which managed farms and cannery contracts.[vi]

The Final Chapter

Though Quon On World Travel—the company’s last iteration—likely ended operation during the COVID-19 pandemic, the spirit of the original firm endures. Its legacy lives on through archives, oral histories, and the memories of thousands whose journeys it helped facilitate—across oceans and generations.

Mary Mah passed away on October 21, 1990, just shy of her 90th birthday. She and Frank Mah are buried at Mountain View Cemetery, as well as Mar June and his wife Jung Shee, whose work through businesses like Quon On shaped the Chinese Canadian experience.[vii]

City of Vancouver Planning Department, [438-440 Main Street – Quon On Co. Ltd. Travel and Alexander Beauty Salon], July 1976, COV-S644-: CVA 1095-13756, Box F19-E-02 folder 7. B&W Photo Negative. Copyright City of Vancouver.

Footnotes

[i] US National Archives and Records Administration, Seattle branch. Mar June. Chinese Exclusion Act Case files, Box 341 Case 7027/70.

[ii] Mar Chan had at least three children, and likely had multiple wives as many merchants did. Known descendants are: Mar Kai Kong 馬啓, Mar Kai Kai Leong 馬啓亮, and Mar Hang So.

[iii] Library and Archives Canada, Passenger Lists: Vancouver and Victoria 1925-1935, Reel T-14903, June 3 1933, SS. Ixion

[iv] Chinatown News, Jan 18, 1959, page 11

[v] Chinatown News, Sept 3 1961, page 24

[vi] Library and Archives Canada, 2025, Access to Information Request A-2022-04779, Image 1190

[vii] Frank and Mary Mah had no children, and its unclear if Mar June and his wife or wives did.