Exhibitions

Spring - Summer 2026 The Portland Chinatown Museum presents its second Community Memory Lab Project: Chinese Congregations of Portland’s Chinatown Past. This display highlights the Holt Memorial Chinese Presbyterian Church and the Chinese Baptist Church, featuring family members who attended the two prominent churches that served Portland’s early Chinatown. These shared recollections help retain the collective memory of community life in Portland Chinatown’s past. The project originates from the photo archives of Pak On Lee shared by his son, Keith Lee, who has devoted his time to salvaging the remnants of black and white photos, particularly from the 1950s and 1960s, depicting the communities of faith that shaped the life of Portland’s early Chinatown communities. Chinatowns have been portrayed with a darker past – tales of Tong wars, opium dens, harboring criminal elements, and populated by unnamed caricatures of laundry men, cooks, and domestic help. Chinese Congregations of Portland Chinatown's Past counter these stereotypes with a glimpse of community life and church activities that served their social well-being. The Community Memory Lab concept encourages the dynamic interaction that can only occur when the community comes together. Visitors are invited to add names, stories, or photos to build, over a five-week period, a more robust display of community knowledge. PCM’s Community Memory Lab engages the experimental pop-up display, although temporary, as an effective countermeasure to the cultural erasure that can occur over time. - Roberta Wong, Curator