Chan Doo Sung’s materials are finally going to be archived in summer of 2015, after waiting for more than a year at Special Collections!All the materials were donated to Special Collections by Chan’s daughter in 2013. She hopes that the materials will help scholars in academic field. The box contains advertisements on newspaper, testimonials from patient, correspondences, prescriptions, receipts, print model, and biography by Chan’s daughter.
Chan Doo Sung was a Chinese herbalist who was born in Canton, China in 1898 and moved to the US at age of 18 as a student. In the US, Chan interned with his cousin, who had managed several successful herbal practice offices, to learn English and take over some offices. Later, Chan had his own offices at several states but mainly based in California, where he first arrived in 1916.
I am totally into this collection because of my cultural background and interest in history as well as early experiences of Chinese Americans. As an international student from China, my understanding of Chinese culture and fluency in Chinese language will help me with contents of the project in general. Furthermore, due to influence from my mother, who studies and practices Chinese medicine, I may have certain knowledge that associate with prescriptions of the Chinese herbalist, which hopefully could help more people to understand the prescriptions better during and after my work.