The Baohuanghui in the Pacific Northwest on the CINARC Site

If you're interested in the Baohuanghui in the Pacific Northwest, both Canada and the United States, a great place to begin the data search is the Chinese in Northwest America Research Committee or CINARC.  The site is managed by two China specialists and archaeologists, Chuimei Ho and Ben Bronson, and covers many aspects of Chinese life in the Northwest, including Associations. The site is full of photographs, artifacts and contemporary newspaper coverage of historical events, a list of Chinese names for Pacific Northwest towns and cities, and many other useful articles.

The Chinese Ladies Empire Reform Association of Vancouver, BC

 [Vancouver City Archives]

Recently, we've been following and contributing to discussion on  "The Women's Reform Association in 1904: real or public relations fantasy?" about whether the women's auxiliaries of the Baohuanghui actually existed, based on the composition of two Ladies Association posters from Vancouver and Victoria. Other articles give many details on the Seattle and Vancouver Baohuanghui chapters,"1903: The Seattle chapter of the Preserve-the-Emperor Association is incorporated" and "The Chinese Empire Reform Association (CERA) in Vancouver, B.C. 1899" (which identifies each of the members pictured). A particularly intriguing article is "The Chinese Empire Reform Association (CERA) in Rossland, B.C. 1903". The poster of the Rossland chapter raises suspicions because it pictures 52 members dressed in Western suits (possibly the same suit), in a town that probably had few Chinese merchants and not all that many Chinese laborers.