I had spent the majority of my week debating how I was going to approach my memory project. I rewrote my proposal a few times and collected resources as I brain stormed interview questions. Finally it was Friday, my one free day of the week, and I was eager to begin my intellectual journey through the Wing Luke Asian Museum.

Upon my arrival in seattle I found parking in short supply, and was forced to leave my car a few blocks away. This actually allowed me to enjoy the sun and observe the community whose history I was to investigate.
After entering the Wing Luke Museum I went directly to the front desk. “Hi, I would like to purchase a year membership.” The young woman sitting behind the desk smiled at me.

“Sure,” she said “just sign this paperwork here please.” She handed me a clip board with a single form on it. I thanked her and went on to explain that she was likely to see a lot of me in the coming weeks as I was conducting research on how the museum presents the history of seattle’s Pan-Asian community.

The young women looked genuinely pleased with this, “Well we certainly appreciate your interest.” She told me that she could get me in touch with the director of educational outreach, and that they would make sure I got access to all the resources I would need. She then handed me a small map of the museum and gave me some information on the exhibits and upcoming oral history tour. I thanked her and decided to spend the 15 minutes I had before the tour looking at one of my favorite exhibits.

My favorite exhibit was designed by Suzie Kozawa and Erin Shie Palmer and titled “Letter Cloud.” To reach the exhibit I had to climb a flight of stairs which also served as a work of art. The stairs appeared to be made of old repurposed dock wood, which made up the portion on which you would step, while the panels visible to you as you ascended were made of brushed metal. The metal panels had names carved out of them which would light up successively, one after the other.

The stairs themselves lead up to a naturally lit landing. The landing was a hall whose walls resembled the exterior of an old hotel, with frosted artificially lit windows. The ceiling was a panel of glass, a window to the sky which was meant to symbolize the blue of the ocean. I could hear the sound of waves splashing onto a surf above me, creating the illusion of being under water. The room projected a feeling which I consider to be quintessential to the Northwest. Hundreds of paper letters are suspended overhead by fishing line, and dance in the wake of an artificial breeze. From the end of the hall comes the sound of a gentle voice, but the words are lost in the sound of the waves until you reach the bench at the back of the hall. The voice was that of a woman reading an old letter from a young man to his love across the sea. Other readings from other immigrants followed, often read by their children or grand children. The matters of which they wrote were so relatable and timeless that i couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of solidarity with them and their struggles and their successes.The letters were read in their original tongue as well as in english, increasing their accessibility. “A cloud of paper floats these letters across time and space…” reads a portion of the description on the wall.

I had to leave the exhibit before I had time to listen to every letter, because the historic hotel tour was about to begin. The tour started on the ground floor in front of the biographical exhibit for the museum’s namesake, Wing Chong Luke. Only two other people were waiting for the tour, so the group was small. Our guide, Don, was incredibly personable; he asked where we were all from and chatted about his wife and where he was from. His casual conversational style lent itself perfectly to the tour. It kept us engaged and made the subject feel relevant. It also allowed us to question what we already knew, and recognize when we were learning something new.

Don’s parents, as it turns out, are actually from the same province of China as Wing Luke. He told us of his surprise at finding the people of China to be extremely warm and welcoming towards him when he visited, as there had been a times when American born Chinese were not well received back in China. Traveling for him had been a great learning experience. he encouraged all of us to travel there some day, saying that “travel transcends racial lines”

As Don covered the life of Wing Luke, the part of his story which seemed the most significant took place in his childhood. In primary school he was the only non-caucasian child, and he was picked on terribly. Wing, we were told, was also an incredible artist. Don asked us “So, if you could draw really well, and all of these kids were picking on you, how would you draw them?” i looked kind of bashful and hesitated. “I guess I would make them look pretty stupid.” I said. Don nodded, “Well Wing didn’t do that, he wanted these kids to like him, and so he drew them all as superheroes.” As it turns out, this worked, Wing became one of the most well liked boys in his entire class. A class photo with Wing standing at the center, with all the student’s smiling added a pleasant visual ending to the story. I feel that this story really supports the museums message that community and understanding is important, and that it can be achieved through compassion and education. It speaks to a larger message, that despite our differences, we are all in this together. Don says that the stories the museum tells are relevant to every one, because the majority of Americans are, or are descendants, of Immigrants. I am also able to make connections between the Asian immigrants of the late 1800s early 1900s, because just like them we are all struggling to achieve our goals, find our place in society while maintaining our own identity.

The tour moved to the front of the museum where we learned about the history of how the International District portion of Seattle was built and then to outside where we could look at the city directly. I feel this is a very powerful teaching tool, to look directly at the city while you learn about it. It makes you feel like you are a part of the community you are learning about. It also reminds you that the museum isn’t the only resource for learning about this vibrant portion of seattle, we can actually venture into the city ourselves and seek out answers independently. The wing Luke Museum web site and staff actually encourage you to do just that.

The tour then moved to the East Kong Yick Building which was donated to the museum after it closed. The store, which was rebuilt as a part of the museum is still filled with all the original jars of dried goods and account books. Don reveals that he used to some to the shop in it’s original location as a child. he would buy dried plums(his cultures version of candy) and help his brother carry the 100 lb bag of rice his mother would purchase there every month. Hearing about this history from someone who actually went to the store as a child, and who has a place in the history we were talking about made it a very personal experience. Listening to an oral history from someone who could provide a personal perspective to enhance the information we were receiving made me realize how relevant this topic still is to the seattle community today. Being able to walk through that shop, suspended in time, transported us back to the past and allowed us to adopt a different perspective far more easily than by looking at pictures in a book.

From there we moved on to the Freeman Hotel, which was one of the first resting places of many immigrants coming to Seattle from Asia. The hotel also contained meeting rooms for Family Associations. Family Associations were essentially clubs comprised of people who came from the same provinces in China, and wanted to recapture the sense of the community they had when living in their old villages. The Gee How Oak Tin Family Association meeting place was the first we visited, this association had actually been the largest in the nation. These associations are a testament to how important maintaining a sense of community was and still is in the early days of the international district. It also demonstrates the creative ways in which immigrant populations go about maintaining a sense of cultural identity and how they valued the roots of their past.

Another type of association in the area was known as a tong, which was originally a secret business organization generally of ill repute. They were known to be involved in gambling, smuggling, and even prostitution once upon a time, but have since become merely places for older chinese people to gather socially. Don’s father was actually a member of the Bing Tong Association, which we could see from the window, and often kept that part of his life separate from the rest of his life. Yet Don does remember his father showing him cared tricks, and demonstrating how easy it would be for him to swindle and rube who tried their luck at gambling with the tong.

The tour ended where I began, at the “Letter Cloud.” Don left us with the message that the story the museum tells is a part of all of us and in turn I believe that we are an important part of the museum. Those who visit the museum aren’t only supporting it financially, but we are participating in keeping certain memories alive, and we are spreading that knowledge and insight to the rest of the community when we leave. “It’s Your Museum!” say the flyers sitting outside the museum entrance. I believe that it truly is a community museum, in that it preserves the history of a community, promotes communal memory, and creates it’s own community within and without it’s walls.