This presentation took place on May 12, 2009

1. Bringing the Past to the
Present:
Chinese Canadian Family History and
Migration Collections and Programs at the
Irving K. Barber Learning Centre
Allan Cho
Program Services Librarian
Irving K. Barber Learning Centre

2. Irving K. Barber Learning Centre
(1) Outreach
Programs
(2) Learning
Support Services
(3) Collections
(4) Exhibition
Spaces
(5) Technology

3. Why IKBLC?
 Reflects a multicultural UBC
campus
 60% of UBC students identify as
a visible minority, 37% as ethnic
Chinese
 40% of Vancouver is ethnic
Chinese, with heterogenuous
backgrounds ranging from 4th
and 5th generation Chinese-
Canadians to migrants recently
arriving in the last 5 years from
all over the world

4. 1. The Chung Collection
 Housed in UBC's Irving
K. Barber Learning
Centre, where selected
pieces are on exhibit in
the Chung Room
 Includes more than
25,000 rare and unique
items (documents,
books, maps, posters,
paintings, photographs,
silver, glass, and
ceramic ware)

5. 2. Community Historical
Recognition Program (CHRP)
• On January 22, 2009, the
Community Historical
Recognition Program
(CHRP) announced $50,000
grant
• Supports a three-year
Irving K. Barber Learning
Centre (IKBLC) Initiative for
Student Teaching and
Research in Chinese
Canadian Studies
(INSTRCC) research project

6. Head Tax Database
• Provides access to
98,361 references to
Chinese immigrants
who arrived in Canada
between 1885 and 1949
• Indexed by the
Department of History at
the University of British
Columbia
• Workshops to take
place at IKBLC

7. Family, Local, &
Community
• To create awareness in
the community of the
wide range of resources
in the writing and
research
• Starts off with Chinese
Canadian, but all
community family
histories in British
Columbia are
interconnected due to
geographical proximity
• Use of oral histories

8. 3. Exhibition Space
• Collaboration with
UBC Asian Library
• A collection of
Cantonese Opera
materials at the
Exhibition Space
• Master Wong Tao

9. 4. Reading and Lecture Series
Wayson Choy
Madeleine Thien
Dr. Timothy Brook

10. 5. Technology & Digital Outreach
Sun Yat-sen Classical
Chinese Garden’s SK
Lee Enchanted Evening
Concert Series
Distance learning &
outreach
IKBLC webcasts

11. IKBLC Vision and Goals
• IKBLC’s mandate to
“work effectively together
in continuing to build a
better British Columbia
through the sharing of
knowledge and
experience”

12. Irving K. Barber Learning Centre
Questions?
Allan Cho
Program Services
Librarian
allan.cho@ubc.ca
1-604-827-4366

13. References
 Alexander, Ben. “Excluding Archival Sciences; oral history and Historical Absence.” Archival Science. 5 (2-4): 1-11.
 Anderson, Kay. “The Idea of Chinatown: The Power of Place and Institutional Practice in the Making of a Racial Category.” Annals of
the Association of American Geographers. (77) 4: 580-598.
 Canada’s Ethnocultural Mosaic, 2006 Census: Canada's major census metropolitan areas.” 2006 Census: Analysis series. Statistics
Canada. November 21, 2008.
 <http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/analysis/ethnicorigin/vancouver.cfm>
 The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative. “7 Things You Should Know About Digital Storytelling.” January 2007. Educause. April 29,
2009. <<http://connect.educause.edu/Library/ELI/7T hingsYouShouldKnowAbout/39398>>
 Ethno-Cultural and Aboriginal Groups. June 21, 2005. Canadian Genealogy Centre. Library and Archives Canada. April 1, 2009.
<http://www.collectionscanad a.gc.ca/genealogy/022-905.002-e.html>
 Featherstone, Mike. “Archiving Cultures.” British Journal of Sociology. (51)1: 161.
 Griffin, K. (2008, Apr 16). “$5 million, 25,000 items and UBC – A collection with special meaning.” Vancouver Sun, pp. A.1.
 James, Matt. “Recognition and Redistribution.” Canadian Journal of Political Science. (37) 4: 883-902.
 Lee, Erika. “Chinese Exclusion at the Borders with Canada and Mexico.” Journal of American History. 89 (1): 54-86.
 Newell, Dianne. “Beyond Chinatown: Overseas Chinese Intermediaries on the Multiethnic North-American Pacific Coast in the Age
of Financial Capital.” Finance, intermediaries, and economic development. Edited. Stanley L. Engerman and Lance Edwin Davis.
(Cambridge University Press, 2003): 247-264.
 “Statement of Purpose and Charter of Principles.” Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. 2005. University of British Columbia. April 29,
2009. << http://www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca/about/charter.html>>
 Swain, Ellen. “Oral History in the Archives: Its Documentary Role in the Twenty-first Century.” The American Archivist. Vol. 66
(Spring/Summer): 139-158.
 Van Wingen, Melinda, and Abigail Bass. “Reappraising Archival Practice in Light of the New Social History.” Library Hi Tech. 26(4):
575-585.
 Yu, Henry. “Refracting Pacific Canada,” BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly. 156/157 (Winter/Spring 2007/2008): 5-10.
 Yu, Henry. “Towards a Pacific History of the Americas.” Amerasia Journal. 33(2): xi-xix.