Snapshots of the Past

Chinese Immigrants at the San Francisco Custom House – Antique Wall Art

Chinese Immigrants at the San Francisco Custom House, 1877 — antique engraving
Chinese Immigrants at the San Francisco Custom House, 1877. Antique engraving from the San Francisco collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

Step back in time with Chinese Immigrants at the San Francisco Custom House, an antique engraving rich in period detail. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.

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Chinese Immigrants at the San Francisco Custom House

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Its setting is the Custom House itself, where Chinese immigrants wait to be processed in this wood engraving from *Harper's Weekly*, issued in early February 1877. As a national illustrated weekly, *Harper's* gave many readers far from the Pacific coast their only view of western ports. The timing matters: anti-Chinese feeling was rising in California, and federal officials at San Francisco were enforcing the Page Act of 1875, which barred many Chinese women on suspicion of prostitution. Notice how the scene treats arrival as paperwork and inspection rather than welcome.

Created / published1877
Medium1 print : wood engraving.
SubjectsIllus. in: Harper's Weekly, v. 25, no. 1049 (1877 Feb. 3.). This record contains unverified, old data from caption card. Caption card tracings: Ca.--SF; Customs houses; Immigration; Shelf.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,134 × 1,536 px · prints to 4 × 5 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-129734

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