[Detail] "Sing Fat Co., Inc.": From San Francisco Chinatown (post-1910)
Community and Photography
An album of postcards of San Francisco compiled by Mrs. M. E. Duggin suggests an exercise in considering the meaning of community and expressing it in a series of images. Examine the table of contents of Mrs. Duggin's album and notice what highlights of San Francisco she included in her presentation and consider the following questions:
- What might the many views related to San Francisco's waterfront suggest about the community?
- What do hotels, municipal buildings, federal buildings, parks, churches, hospitals and monuments say about a community?
- How does the appearance of a community and its surrounding scenery, such as might be captured in "Views Outside the Golden Gate," "Some Heights — Views From" and "A Rapid Glance at Our City by Night," shape the community?
Consider the meaning of community while reading about San Francisco's Chinatown in the collection's Special Presentation.
- What aspects of Chinatown does the Special Presentation identify?
- Why was Chinatown created?
- What united the residents of Chinatown? What did they have in common?
- How important was Chinatown to its residents and why?
Consider your own community and create an album of collected postcards or original photographs that reflect the community's identity.
- When and how was your community created?
- Where does your community get its sense of identity? From its history? Its industries? Its institutions? Its natural resources?
- What values are reflected in the architecture, commerce, industry, residential areas, recreation, and institutions of your community?
- What unites the residents of your community? What do they have in common?
- What landmarks or activities in your community best reflect its identity?
- If you were taking visitors on a tour of your community, what would you show them? What would you tell them about the community and its sights?
