Photographs of San Francisco's Chinatown, Taken by James Wong Howe, 1944
Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- James Wong Howe
- Extent:
- 29 b&w photographic prints, 21 x 26 cm. or smaller. 29 digital objects
- Language:
- Collection materials are in English
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Photographs of San Francisco's Chinatown collection contains 29 photographs taken by James Wong Howe during World War Two documenting the assimilation of Chinese Americans. The collection is only a portion of a larger group of photographs commissioned by Look magazine in 1944 "to get behind the tourist front" of San Francisco's Chinatown. The collection features various workers, children, soldiers, and youth in an attempt to illustrate the degree to which Chinese Americans had been assimilated into mainstream American culture and were thus supportive of the United States' war efforts. Included among the photographs are scenes of Chinese American home life, schooling, recreation, dining, and work places such as a newspaper press, child care center, telephone switchboard, construction site, pawn broker, and various offices.
The original Look article, "Chinatown, San Francisco" (issued December 26, 1944; pp. 22-27), explains the magazine's choice of Howe as the photographer for the article, gives a brief history of Chinese Americans, makes a claim for the Chinese American allegiance to the United States' war cause, and presents a series of 18 fully captioned photographs taken in Chinatown. Though most of the prints in the collection are uncaptioned with the exception of classificatory information, some include hand-written versions of the captions found in the Look article. The series arrangement of the present finding aid is generally based on the subject headings found on the print versos. Some information contained in the bracketed captions, though not included on the versos, is taken directly from the Look captions. Captions in the container listing marked with an asterisk (*) were included in the original Look article.
In addition to the captions and subject classifications, the print versos also contain various numberings and a hand stamp.
- Biographical / historical:
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James Wong Howe was born Wong Tung Jim on August 28, 1899 in Kwantung (Canton), China. He moved to the United States at age 5. After pursuing a career as a professional boxer in the Northwest, Howe moved to Los Angeles and became a delivery boy for a commercial photographer. In 1917 Howe entered the Hollywood film industry and soon became an assistant cameraman, working with such notable directors as Cecil B. DeMille. In 1922 he became a director of photography and quickly established a reputation as an inventive and meticulous craftsman. Initially known as James Howe, his Chinese name was added by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in hopes that a more exotic-sounding name appearing on film credits would enhance publicity for both Howe and the studio. In industry circles, Howe acquired the nickname of Low Key Hoe for his distinctive application of low-key photography. Howe also pioneered the use of deep focus and the hand-held camera. Howe won Academy Awards for his cinematography for The Rose Tattoo (1955) and Hud (1963). Throughout his career Howe was also active as a still photographer. James Wong Howe died in 1976.
Other notable films featuring the cinematography of Howe include Peter Pan (1924), The Thin Man (1934), Mark of the Vampire (1935), The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), They Made Me a Criminal (1939), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Body and Soul (1947), He Ran All the Way (1951), Come Back Little Sheba (1953), Picnic (1956), The Sweet Smell of Success (1957), The Old Man and the Sea (1958), and Funny Lady (1975).
- Acquisition information:
- The Photographs of San Francisco's Chinatown collection was purchased in 1996.
- Rules or conventions:
- Finding Aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard
Access and use
- Location of this collection:
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University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft LibraryBerkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
- Contact:
- 510-642-6481