The National Historical Publications and Records Commission has granted the Ethnic Studies Library at the University of California at Berkeley funding for the first year of a two year project to process the Kem Lee Photograph Archive. In the opinion of many scholars, it is the largest single collection of images of the Chinatown of San Francisco. Photographer and artist Kem Lee documented official and unofficial events from the 1940s through 1980s.
Since the acquisition of the archive in 1991 by the former Asian American Studies Library (now merged into the Ethnic Studies Library), many researchers have inquired about using this major collection. The historical richness of this collection is due in part to the remarkable life of Mr. Lee himself. Kem Lee was a freelance professional photographer and photojournalist for several Chinese community newspapers, such as Chinese World, Chinese Times and Young China. He was the official photographer for the Miss Chinatown U.S.A. New Year pageant in San Francisco, California, was a Sunset Magazine photographer for many years, and was also owner of his own studio in San Francisco's Chinatown. Yet, as Daryl Wong noted in his biography of Kem Lee "for a man so well known, very little is known about Kem Lee the man and artist: his upbringing, his reasons for pursuing an artist career, his relationship to the leaders of Chinatown, the recognition he received."
Mr. Lee was born in China in 1901 and died in 1986. During his early years in China he was influenced by his mother to learn about peasant art. After his arrival in Northern California in 1928, he worked for the publisher of the San Mateo Times. He was influenced by one of the publisher's daughter, who was an art student at the University of California at Berkeley. With the encouragement and help of his employer's family, he was able to attend a "white" school. Later, he was accepted by San Mateo Junior College (Now College of San Mateo). His focus was on painting, but he took graphic art as elective courses.
To help with processing the more than 220,000 images, the Ethnic Studies Library is currently seeking persons to fill two half-time, one year positions.. (Wei Chi Poon, Jun 10, 2005).