Ah Louis Store records, 1886-1890

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Summary

Creators:
Louis, Ah, 1840-1936
Abstract:
Business records from a general store run by Chinese immigrant Ah Louis in San Luis Obispo, California from 1874 to 1890.
Extent:
3 Linear Feet (5 boxes)
Language:
Chinese and Predominantly in Chinese with occasional English-language receipt/order request. Receipts on printed forms are in English, most accompanied by a Chinese note on the reverse.
Preferred citation:

[identification of item], Ah Louis Store records (M02072). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Background

Scope and content:

Receipts related to Ah Louis's store in San Luis Obispo (including sales, orders, bank services, and wages, as well as rent, utilities, and freight bills), lotteries, letters as inventories and with notice of payments, and licenses for trades at the store. The materials were produced between the years 1886 and 1890.

Biographical / historical:

Ah Louis (1840-1936), or Wong On (黄安), was a Chinese-American businessman. He moved from Guangdong Province to California between 1856 and 1861. He was a key contractor of Chinese labor during construction of the Pacific Coast Railroad along the Central Coast of California. Ah Louis opened the Ah Louis Store in San Luis Obispo, an East Asian mercantile from which he also provided banking and postal services, in 1874.

Acquisition information:
Gift of the Chinese Historical Society of America, 2015. Accession 2015-048.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.

Terms of access:

These materials are believed to be in the public domain. There are no restrictions on use of public domain materials.

Preferred citation:

[identification of item], Ah Louis Store records (M02072). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Location of this collection:
Department of Special Collections, Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6004, US
Contact:
(650) 725-1022
specialcollections@stanford.edu
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