New Gallery Opens at UBC

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The University of British Columbia Library this April opened a new exhibition space named the Chung | Lind Gallery that showcases two culturally significant experiences — early Chinese immigration to British Columbia and the Klondike gold rush.

“Displayed together, these two outstanding collections will create a new focal point for historical research, teaching, and learning at UBC and in time become a magnet for scholars across Canada who wish to view these rare materials first-hand,” university librarian Susan E. Parker said in a news release.

The collections include material from Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung, who donated more than twenty-five thousand rare and unique documents, books, maps, posters, paintings, photographs, and other artifacts to UBC Library in 1999. Items from the Chung collection were previously on display in the library’s rare books and special collections area. The new gallery space provides students, faculty, and the public with direct access to the collections.

“This collection started with an interest in my neighbourhood,” Wallace B. Chung said of Vancouver’s Chinatown. “I became curious about the history of the people that lived there. Many people do not know how difficult things once were for early Chinese migrants.”

The Phil Lind Klondike gold rush collection includes books, maps, letters, and photos collected by Lind in honour of his grandfather John Grieve Lind. Better known as Johnny, Lind was a trailblazer and prospector who operated several claims on Klondike rivers and creeks.

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