The collection consists of black and white 35mm and 120mm negatives, black and white photographic prints, color slides and digital scans of San Francisco, California landmarks and neighborhoods from the early 1960s to the late 1970s taken by Franklin Chuin Chiang. San Francisco locations documented include Chinatown, The Cannery, Hobart Building, Ghirardelli Square, Curran Theatre, San Francisco Airport, Opera House, Palace of Fine Arts, Cable Car Museum, SF Cable Car Barn, Mark Hopkins Hotel, Grace Cathedral, Pacific-Union Club, Fairmont Hotel, St. Francis Hotel, Palace Hotel, Golden Gate Park, Embarcadero Freeway, and exterior of Mocambo on Polk Street. Chiang’s photography documented the changing landscape of San Francisco including the construction and completion of Transamerica Pyramid, Bank of America and San Francisco Market Street BART. A notable event documented was a protest in Chinatown in 1968. The protestors’ signs criticized the Chinatown establishment for promoting tourism instead of resolving social problems in the community. The signs called for reforms in the areas of education, employment, health, housing and immigration.

Franklin Chuin Chiang was born on November 16, 1925 to a Chinese military general Sun-Pu Chiang in Chengtu, Szechuan, China. During World War II, Chiang flew for the China National Aviation Corporation and was based out of Kunming, 1942-1945. In 1945, Chiang applied for a student visa and attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Chiang graduated from MIT in 1948. By the early 1950s, Chiang attended Stanford University and made Palo Alto, California his home. In 1957, he was living in Palo Alto with his wife and two daughters and working as an engineer as a naturalized citizen of the United States. In the early 1960s Chiang was exploring the world of photography. In 1991, he filed a patent with Lawrence J. Thoman in the United States Patent and Trademarks Office for virtual pocket sorting which was published in 1994. Chiang died on February 8, 2016 in Santa Clara County, California.

2 boxes

All requests for permission to publish from photographs must be submitted in writing to the Photo Curator. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.

The collection is currently unprocessed but available for research. Please contact the Photo Curator. The collection is available for use during Photo Desk hours.