UBC Asian Library and UBC Rare Books and Special Collections (RBSC) present Within the Gaps: Intracommunity Voices in Chinese Canadian and Korean Canadian Records, an exhibit that explores the polyvocality of Chinese Canadian and Korean Canadian communities in British Columbia.
The display was created through the efforts of two student curators, Yun Xin (Lily) Liu and Grace Park, with oversight and support from library faculty members Shirin Eshghi Furuzawa, Head of Asian Library, Claire Malek, RBSC Archivist, and Saeyong Kim, Korean Studies and Medical-Dentistry Librarian. The exhibit was made possible through the Asian Canadian Research and Engagement (ACRE) Faculty Initiatives Grant, which was created by the Centre for Asian Canadian Research and Engagement (ACRE) in the Faculty of Arts to support faculty members who do work broadly in the field of Asian Canadian and Asian Migration studies or with Asian Canadian communities.

A photograph of Vancouver Korean United Church at their first anniversary celebration at Union College in 1967.
Park, who worked on the Korean Canadian section of the exhibit, hopes the material provides a new entry point for students interested in Korean Canadian studies: “Ultimately, I hope that students feel more encouraged to pursue Korean Canadian research because of the resources that they learn about—such as the Korean Canadian Heritage Archives—and the records that they see.”
The Korean Canadian section of the exhibit explores records of early UBC academics in the 1950s and 1960s, records of Korean church members in British Columbia, and accounts from individuals within the Korean Canadian community.
“For me, a highlight of the exhibit is a letter written by Dr. Fritz Lehmann to Rev. Dr. Sang-chul Lee in 1986,” says Park. “The letter provides context as to where translations of Rev. Lee’s memoirs were deposited and why. It’s significant because it shows the different values placed on Korean immigrant materials at the time and it exemplifies overarching questions of the exhibit about who attributes value.”

A letter from Fritz Lehmann to Dr. Sang-chul Lee, dated September 8, 1986.
The Chinese Canadian section of the exhibit reexamines a famous cold case from the 1920s in which Wong Foon Sing (黃煥勝), a Chinese domestic worker, was unfairly charged with the murder of housemaid Janet Smith. RBSC houses the records of three individuals related to the case, and the exhibit provides a unique opportunity to view the material in person.

Newspaper clippings about the murder investigation of Janet Smith in 1924.
“Overall, our hope with this exhibition is to dispel the notion of communities as simple monoliths, and instead, highlight the complex range of voices within a given community,” notes Liu.
While the exhibit is available to view until February 9, Eshghi Furuzawa, Malek and Kim, are already discussing ways to continue engaging with the material moving forward.
“We are grateful to ACRE for providing us with the opportunity for Grace and Lily to work with us on this exhibition. Through this project, not only did we learn what it entails to bring our Asian Canadian archival collections to life, but we also learned how best to partner with community organizations to highlight their works,” says Eshghi Furuzawa.
Come visit the display at the Asian Library.

Open book with newspaper clippings, displaying various headlines and articles from Vancouver, British Columbia in the 1920s.