Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Kam Wah Chung Company building in the town of John Day, Oregon, contains hundreds of artifacts and relics within its interior spaces. Built as a trading post using native tuffa and wood circa 1866, a small second story was added in the 1890s and a north wing added circa 1917. The interior room configurations and finishes remain unchanged since their contruction.

 

Purchasing the building in 1888, Ing "Doc" Hay, a practitioner of herbal medicine, and Lung On, a businessman, would become central to the social, cultural, medical, and religious life of the John Day community. The Kam Wah Chung Company building survives with many of its original contents intact, including herbs, medicines, food, and other merchandise of the period.

 

The site offers many opportunities for scholarly inquiry into topics related to history, architecture, traditional healing and medicine, cultural studies, immigration, religion, mining, diaspora studies, among other topics.

 

This library guide provides links to examples of resources that you might access when exploring the Kam Wah Chung site and related subjects.