Official map of Chinatown in San Francisco

Caption

Official map of Chinatown in San Francisco. Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division. Historical classifications are reproduced for critical study, not endorsed.

Catalog notes

Property lines and business names make this a detailed record of San Francisco’s Chinatown, but its racial and occupancy categories also reveal the viewpoint of the officials who commissioned it. The sheet is presented as evidence of how official mapping classified a community, rather than as a neutral account of its residents. Its colors describe only the first or street floor of buildings. The printed fifth-edition notice connects this copy with a supplement to the San Francisco Daily Report.

Original catalog record, source and attribution