Arnold Genthe took hundreds of photographs in San Francisco’s Chinatown from 1896 to 1906. Genthe’s extensive portfolio provides historians with a trove of evidence of what life was like in Chinatown in the decade leading up to the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. This lesson asks students to think critically about Genthe’s photographs and evaluate their strengths and limitations as evidence of the past.
Genthe (figure with camera) photographing on a street in Chinatown between 1896 and 1906. From The Library of Congress.
