Gelatin Silver Print on ‘AZO’ Postcard Stock of Local Characters, Chinese Interracial Couple Mr. & Mrs. Wong Sun Yue Clemens at Their Curio and Tea Shop in Chinatown, San Francisco, 1910’s: Wong and Clemens met in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequently married. They opened a curio and tea shop in Chinatown and published a series of postcards of themselves to promote the store.

Gelatin silver print on 'AZO' postcard stock of local characters, Chinese interracial couple Mr. & Mrs. Wong Sun Yue Clemens at their Curio and Tea Shop in Chinatown, San Francisco, c. 1910. Measures 5 1/4" x 3 1/4". Handwritten inscription in ink on recto: 'Mr. & Mrs. Wong Sun Yue Clemens, Mrs. Howard Gould's sister'; 'AZO' wet stamp logo verso. Very good condition, crease in top right corner, wearing along edges as seen in image.

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Wong and Clemens met in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequently married. They opened a curio and tea shop in Chinatown and published a series of postcards of themselves to promote the store. (via The University of British Columbia: https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/chung/chungphotos/items/1.0220028)

Note: Clemens had moved to San Francisco from Illinois, establishing herself as a missionary in Chinatown. After the 1906 earthquake she relocated with the rest of the community and met Wong while living in temporary earthquake housing. They were married and established the shop, which thrived in part due to the notoriety at the time of a white woman married to and working beside a Chinese merchant. In 1916 they left for China and more missionary work, but there was some sort of falling out and Clemens returned to San Francisco without Wong, re-opening the shop. She later married a Swedish chiropractor, who was suspected of murdering her soon after the wedding. (via Stanford Libraries: https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/11849559)