Digital Collections of Chinese Canadian and Japanese Canadian Communities
The United Church Archives invites you to explore our holdings relating to Chinese Canadian and Japanese Canadian communities in British Columbia.
What are these digital collections about?
The collections show the church’s relations with Chinese Canadians and Japanese Canadians that predate the formation of the United Church, beginning with Methodist Church outreach to Chinese Canadians in the 1880s. They include over a thousand photographs, some published histories, and several registers from what was known as the Oriental Home and School in Victoria.
Missionaries who created many of these records acted in the context of their colonial society, which was racially segregated and shaped by anti-Asian sentiment.

Why publish now?
We’ve published these digital collections online in response to requests from Canadians of Chinese and Japanese descent to make information-rich materials more widely available for family research and reconnection. Our collaborative work with the Chinese Canadian Museum and Vancouver’s Chinatown Storytelling Centre has made the need all the more obvious.
Members of those communities formed an Advisory Group which, together with the Archives, has made every effort to respect the sensitivities and privacy needs of those most impacted by the publication of personal information.
Future plans
We plan to expand on these digital collections as time and funding allow, and as restriction periods lapse. We also hope this initial effort spawns further research projects.
Have ideas for related projects? Contact the Regional Archivist, Blair Galston, BGalston@united-church.ca
Gratitude
The Archives gratefully acknowledges the time and wisdom of the Advisory Group, whose members direct this work.
Our collective thanks to the BC History Digitization Program for its financial contribution to this project.
We acknowledge the earlier work of First Metropolitan United Church Archives (Victoria, B.C.) in publishing an album of the Oriental Home and School, now part of our digital collection.
Digital Collections of Chinese Canadian and Japanese Canadian Communities