Guide to the Ah Louis Store Records M2072
Alyssa Tou
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
2018
Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford 94305-6064
specialcollections@stanford.edu
Language of Material:
Chinese
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Ah Louis Store records
Creator:
Louis, Ah, 1840-1936
Identifier/Call Number: M2072
Identifier/Call Number: 19422
Physical Description:
3 Linear Feet
(5 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1886-1890
Language of Material: 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.
Abstract: Business records from a general store run by Chinese immigrant Ah Louis in San Luis Obispo, California from 1874 to 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.
Scope and Contents
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.
Related Materials
Louis family papers (1879-2009) housed in Robert E. Kennedy Library at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, containing a more extensive
collection of business records, as well as personal papers and photographs.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of the Chinese Historical Society of America, 2015. Accession 2015-048.
Conditions Governing Access
Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.
Conditions Governing Use
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.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Chinese -- California.
Chinese American businesspeople
San Luis Obispo (Calif.) -- History
Box 2, Folder 7
English receipts for goods, rent, and utilities
1886
box 2, folder 8
English receipts for goods, rent, and utilities
1887
box 2, folder 9-10
English receipts for goods, rent, and utilities
1888
Box 2, Folder 11
English receipts for goods, rent, and utilities
1889
Box 2, Folder 12
English receipts for goods, rent, and utilities
1890
Box 5
Packaging for receipts
1887-1890
