Collection context
Summary
- Abstract:
- Photographs, subject files, correspondence, writings, and sketches from photographer Charles Wong.
- Extent:
- 22 Linear Feet (36 flat boxes, 15 manuscript boxes, and 2 map folders)
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
-
[identification of item], Charles Wong photography archive (M3084). Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This collection consists of materials documenting the life and work of photographer Charles Wong. The materials include photographic prints, negatives, correspondence, subject files, notes, business files, paintings, drawings, newspaper clippings, and other materials.
The collection contains street scenes of San Francisco from the late 1940s and early 1950s. It includes images of Chinatown, the Fillmore district, and the San Francisco Flower Market. Many of the images were created as part of Charles Wong's Bender Grant-in-Aid photography award project Year of the Dragon. There are also images that were part of the Pond Farm Project, and Camera in Hand project. There are later images from the mid 2000s and early 2010s that include Carnaval, Pride Parade, and various protests in San Francisco. Some of the earlier photographs have captions on the back from photography contests.
The collection includes business files of Velvet Lens Cap, the business Charles Wong and Irene Poon ran to manage their photographic prints.
These are sketches Charles Wong created, mostly while he was serving in the United States Air Force.
The collection also includes photographic works by other photographers including: Irene Poon, Minor White, Benjamen Chinn, Ruth Bernhard, and others.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Charles Wong (1922-1924) was born in San Francisco in 1922. He graduated from Mission High School in 1940 and attended the California School of Fine Arts. During World War II, Wong served in the United States Air Force based in Arizona. In 1942 Charles Wong married May Louie, they were married until her death in 1971.
After the war he worked at Bethlehem Steel from 1946-1949 doing design work. In 1949 Wong returned to the California School of Fine Arts to study photography. He studied with Adams, Edward Weston, Minor White and Imogen Cunningham, and graduated in 1951. Wong documented the Chinese community, as well as the larger world. Part one of these series, Year of the Dragon was featured in a 1952 edition of Aperture magazine.
Charles Wong photographed San Francisco during the late 1940s and early '50s, focusing primarily on Chinatown. Part of one of these series, "Year of the Dragon," was featured in a 1952 issue of Aperture. In the early 1950s, Wong stopped doing photography work and started working as an engineer at Bethlehem Steel Shipbuilding and Bechtel Corporation until his retirement. He was married to Pearl Wong from 1975-1995.
In 2000 Charles met the photographer Irene Poon Andersen, which helped him start doing photography again. In 2015, Irene and Charles published "Read the Photograph" a volume of their images and texts ranging from the 1950s to 2015. Charles Wong's work has been displayed at the de Young Museum, SFMOMA, the Getty Museum, the Museum Folkwang in Germany, Gordon College, and other spaces.
- Acquisition information:
- This collection was given by the family of Charles Wong to Stanford University, Special Collections in 2022. Accession 2025-075.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection is arranged into 11 series:
- Series 1. Non-photography artwork
- Series 2. Velvet Lens Cap and other files
- Series 3. Charles Wong and Irene Poon's personal files
- Series 4. Book maquettes
- Series 5. Pond Farm Project
- Series 6. Camera in Hand
- Series 7. Year of the Dragon Series
- Series 8. Project and miscellaneous
- Series 9. Prints Series
- Series 10. Negatives
- Series 11. Prints by other photographers
- Physical location:
- Special Collections and University Archives materials are stored offsite and must be paged three business days in advance. For more information on paging collections, see the department's website: https://library.stanford.edu/libraries/special-collections.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
- Subjects:
- Photography.
- Places:
- Chinatown (San Francisco, Calif.)
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Open for research, except for born-digital materials, which are closed until processed. Audiovisual and born-digital materials are not available in original format, and must be reformatted to a digital use copy.
NOTE: boxes 14, 24, and 35 are closed for Conservation treatment.
- Terms of access:
-
While Special Collections is the owner of the physical and digital items, permission to examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns. See: http://library.stanford.edu/spc/using-collections/permission-publish
- Preferred citation:
-
[identification of item], Charles Wong photography archive (M3084). Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
- Location of this collection:
-
Department of Special Collections, Green Library557 Escondido MallStanford, CA 94305-6004, US
- Contact:
- (650) 725-1022