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Smithers' Bakery fonds
- Date Range
- 1932; [1944-1954]
- Collection
- Smithers' Bakery fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- GMD
- textual record
- Scope and Content
- Fonds contains a ledger and a letter to Quon Fee Quan, possibly Tong’s grandmother.
- Collection
- Smithers' Bakery fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- GMD
- textual record
- Creator
- Mah Yoke Tong
- Mah Wing Shek
- Fonds No.
- BF1
- Accession No.
- 1971.67
- 2012.63
- Physical Description
- 2.5 cm of textual records
- Date Range
- 1932; [1944-1954]
- History / Biographical
- Smithers’ Bakery originated as City Bakery & Confectionery, opened by Stanley C. Jones in 1913 and located on 1st Avenue and Main Street. In 1918, Lee Jackman, manager of the Hotel Bulkley dining room, leased the building to open a coffee shop and bakery. This business was later purchased by Mah Yoke Tong in 1919.
Tong was born December 14, 1870, in Bai Sha Tong village in Taishan County, Guangdong, China. He arrived in Smithers in 1915 after living in Aldermere and Telkwa. In 1922, Tong sponsored his great-nephew Mah Wing Sheek, who was known as Little Wing. Sheek’s father (and Tong’s nephew) was Mah Chong, who owned a laundry business in Smithers, and passed away in 1938 at the age of 49 from a heart attack. Sheek eventually took over his uncle’s business and the bakery became colloquially known as Wing’s Chinese Bakery. Tong passed away on February 11th, 1955. Sheek passed away in the late 1980’s and the building was purchased by Spicer and Romieu Accounting & Insurance.
- Scope and Content
- Fonds contains a ledger and a letter to Quon Fee Quan, possibly Tong’s grandmother.
- Arrangement
- Records were intellectually rearranged in September 2016 by Manda Haligowski to better reflect archival standards and to improve accessibility.
- Notes
- Records are written in Chinese and English. The letter has an English translation available in the file.
- Type of Record
- Archival Description
Less detail