[BCMA] Chinese Legacies exhibit begins travel circuitfrom Revelstoke Railway Museum

Fri Jan 14 09:35:31 PST 2011

As the author of the Chinese Legacies exhibits at Revelstoke Railway Museum
and Revelstoke Museum and Archives, I would like to assure Mr. Gallacher
that the exhibit in its entirety does "reveal the complexity of these
encounters between human populations."  There are uncomfortable and
disturbing elements to the story, but I do not feel that the exhibit is
'"sensational" in any way.  Yes, it is a common historical occurrence, but
the story of the Chinese railway labourers and the Chinese population in
Revelstoke is within our mandate to tell, and we felt that we have told it
respectfully and well.  A museum exhibit can never tell the whole truth
about a particular experience, but we can interpret the history in a way
that is understandable within both the historical context and the present
context.  

Cathy English, Curator

Revelstoke Museum & Archives

315 First Street West

PO Box 1908, Revelstoke, BC  V0E 2S0

Ph: 250-837-3067

Fax: 250-837-3094

Email:  <mailto:revelstokemuseum at telus.net> revelstokemuseum at telus.net

Website:  <http://www.revelstokemuseum.ca/> www.revelstokemuseum.ca

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From: bcma-bounces at lists.vvv.com [mailto:bcma-bounces at lists.vvv.com] On
Behalf Of Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.
Sent: January 12, 2011 5:02 PM
To: bcma at lists.vvv.com
Cc: Dan Gallacher
Subject: Re: [BCMA] Chinese Legacies exhibit begins travel circuitfrom
Revelstoke Railway Museum

This press release is another example of a Museum sensationalizing a common
historical occurrence in 19th Century industrial activity - the use of helot
labour across new world settlements or frontiers - by zeroing-in on the most
flagrant feature, exploiting others.

Canada, among all new nations, has long had chronic capital and labour
shortages, either forcing or encouraging managers and promoters to draw
investments and workers from whatever sources they could.

Most often the working hands came from regions where underemployed peasants
were easily recruited by middlemen from their own ethnic or racial
backgrounds, and then supervised in Canada by other middlemen of similar
origins.

Railway building was one prime example of this rush to employment; coal
mining was another. And both were very dangerous occupations for the
unskilled labour battalions as then were needed. Linguistic incompetency
merely added to the risks, especially when ordered to set-off explosives or
haul overburden down steep slopes. In short, all who built the railway or
dug out coal were complicit in creating and maintaining really hazardous
workplace environments - race or class notwithstanding.

A valid historical account in the exhibition would reveal the complexity of
these encounters between human populations, but as far as I can see from
this press release, the shocking side of the story is the one chosen to
portray events.

Dan Gallacher  

----- Original Message ----- 

From: Moderated BCMA <mailto:bcma at lists.vvv.com>  subscriber listserv. 

To: BCMA at lists.vvv.com 

Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2011 4:06 PM

Subject: [BCMA] Chinese Legacies exhibit begins travel circuit from
Revelstoke Railway Museum

For Immediate Release

January 11, 2011

"Chinese Legacies: Building the Canadian Pacific Railway" exhibit begins
travel circuit across the country

Revelstoke, BC - 

"Chinese Legacies" began as a collaborative exhibit project between the
Revelstoke Railway Museum and the Revelstoke Museum & Archives.   These two
institutions teamed up to create exhibits on a significant yet previously
unexplored facet of the railway and community history of this region. The
joint project that became the "Chinese Legacies" exhibit, was made possible
thanks to generous grants from BC Hydro, the Vancouver Foundation, the
Columbia Basin Trust, and the BC Museums Association.  Generous financial
support was also given by the Province of British Columbia through BC150
Years, a Ministry of Tourism, Sports, and the Arts initiative. 

The exhibit, "Chinese Legacies: Building the Canadian Pacific Railway" ,
featured at the Revelstoke Railway Museum since 2008, explores the
fascinating story of the Chinese labourers who contributed to the
construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway between Port Moody and
Craigellachie.  This presentation of their travel to British Columbia, their
living and working conditions and the contribution they made to the
construction of the railway has been visited by thousands over the past two
and a half years and is now set to travel to other museum venues, beginning
in 2011.    Revelstoke Museum and Archives continues to host their exhibit
"Chinese Legacies: Revelstoke's Chinese Community" at its museum location in
downtown Revelstoke.  This companion to the Railway Museum exhibit  explores
the large Chinese community that prospered for many years in Revelstoke and
features the Kwong family who played a prominent role in the early history
of Revelstoke. 

Several thousand Chinese men worked on the CPR mainline from Port Moody to
Craigellachie, and it is estimated that between 600 and 2,220 of these
workers died as a result of accidents, disease, and starvation.  The Inland
Sentinel newspaper, originally published at Yale, has many articles about
the Chinese labourers, and while many people believed that their presence
was necessary to construct the railway, they were greatly resented by the
white population, and suffered a great deal of discrimination.  Their wages
were half those of white men doing the same jobs, and they were often
exploited by their crew bosses.  

Once the CPR was completed in 1885, many of the Chinese labourers were left
destitute.  Quite a few of them settled in Revelstoke, where they worked
mainly as cooks, servants, laundrymen, and laborers.  In 1901, there were
113 Chinese people living in Revelstoke, close to one-tenth of the
population.  It is interesting to note that of those 113 people; only one
was a woman, although half of the men were married.  This was a result of
the head tax imposed on Chinese immigrants, making it very costly for men to
bring their wives to Canada.  The community was a vibrant one, however, and
continued to thrive for many years. 

The Revelstoke Railway Museum is pleased to announce that the first stop for
the travelling exhibit will be at Exporail, in Saint Constant, Quebec, from
January 15 to May 29, 2011.  Exporail, the Canadian Railway Museum, has
become the largest railway museum in Canada and one of the most significant
ones in the world.  The story of the Chinese railway workers speaks to our
national story and is suitable for a wide-ranging audience in communities
all across the country.  Features of the exhibit include a railway workers'
campsite diorama, a slide presentation of historical photographs, original
artifacts, some on loan from the Port Moody Station Museum, and text
available in English, French, and Mandarin.  Expressions of interest from
potential host venues include the Prince George Railway & Forestry Museum,
Prince George, BC, the Port Moody Station Museum, and the Copperbelt Mining
& Railway Museum, in the Yukon.  Additional resources and visual displays
accompany the exhibit that will be available for travel until December 2014.

Recognition of the Chinese workers' contribution to the railway's
construction has recently been a subject of discussion in the media
following the Last Spike's 125th Anniversary celebrations in 2010 and this
exhibit joins other individuals and organizations in their efforts to
educate Canadians on this significant aspect of our nation's past.  It is
also hoped that this exhibit will encourage various communities to recognize
the inheritance of nation-building evident in many cultures across the
country. 

The Revelstoke Railway Museum is western Canada's premiere railway museum
presenting railway heritage in the heart of the Columbia Mountains, at its
main location in downtown Revelstoke, as well as at the site of the driving
of the Last Spike at Craigellachie, BC, 40 kilometres west on the Trans
Canada Highway.  The museum gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance
of the Museums Assistance Program, 'Access and National Outreach',
Department of Canadian Heritage for making this travelling exhibit
opportunity possible. 

For more information please contact:

Jennifer Dunkerson

Executive Director

Revelstoke Railway Museum

1-877-837-6060

director.railway at telus.net

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