CHONG FAMILY:

Marvel Hum was born in 1910 in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Irish-Canadian mother Sarah Cassidy and Chinese father Bing Hum. She graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1931. In 1941, Marvel married Stanley V. Chong. For twenty months during World War II, she worked as a laboratory technician in the Metallurgical Control Laboratory for the Twin Cities Ordnance Plant. Marvel and Stanley's daughter Siu-Linn was born in 1946. After World War II, Marvel taught Cantonese cooking classes and was a business partner in various Chong enterprises with her husband. Marvel died in 2003.

Stanley V. Chong was born February 14, 1912 in Yakima, Washington. He graduated from the University of Oregon in 1933. In 1934, Stanley moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota. During World War II, Stanley was drafted into the military and later worked as a civilian on production of the atomic bomb for E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. With Marvel, he owned and operated Marvel Foods Inc. (a Chinese frozen foods production company), the Chongs Cooking Schools, and the International House of Foods (a wholesale and retail business in Asian and Middle Eastern foods). Both of the Chongs were actively involved in Chinese community organizations in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area and Stanley became the first president of the Chinese American Association of Minnesota (1967-1968). Stanley died October 24, 2006.

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The collection represents a sampling of the many levels of Stanley and Marvel Chong's involvement with the Chinese American community in Minnesota. Included are testimonies, short biographies, and immigration documents used by the Moy family and others to stay in the United States. The photographs are not labeled individually, but the large majority depict scenes from events at the Chinese American Club, predecessor to the Chinese American Association of Minnesota.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Chong Family Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 16,069

Processing Information:

Processed by: Calla Smith-Dowling, July 2007

Catalog ID number: 990064375980104294

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Chinese Americans -- Minnesota -- Twin Cities Metropolitan Area -- Societies, etc.

Cookery, Chinese.

Food industry and trade.

Persons:

Chong, Marvel Hum.

Chong, Stanley V., 1912-2006, author.

Moy family.

Organizations:

Chinese American Association of Minnesota.

International House of Foods (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Marvel Foods Inc. (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Document Types:

Menus.

Photographs.

Recipes.

Blueprints (reprographic copies).

Occupations:

Businesspeople.

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