Thursday, August 19, 2010

Details: Jue Shee's Berkeley Photo

In an earlier post I discussed Jew Shee (aka Jue Shee), Jue Joe's younger brother , who obtained a PhD in mining engineering at UC Berkeley. The family had no pictures of him, however ,some fine internet sleuthing by Auntie Soo-Yin has unearthed a remarkable photograph entiled "Engineering Students 1898" in the University Photographic Archives of the Bancroft Library at Berkeley that includes Jew Shee! Thanks so much , Auntie Soo Yin ,for sharing this photo ! ( click on group photo to enlarge, bottom photo is a digitally enlarged photo of Jew Shee from the group photo )






The Chinese student in lower right-hand corner is Jew Shee. According to San Tong, Jew Shee had a slender face. In 1898 UC Berkeley had around 219 graduate students enrolled, and 14 of them were enrolled in mining engineering. The date corresponds to the time that Jew Shee would have attended UC Berkeley. Also, the date he wrote on his engineering textbook that I saw on the Jue Joe Ranch corresponds to the date of this photo. (University Archive, Bancroft Library, UARC NUM: 4.57.)
-Auntie Soo-Yin
 
EDITED 5/18/2012   We have determined that the student in this photo is not Jew Shee but rather a student named Yoneshiro Shibata. In fact Jue Joe never attended UC Berkeley at all and made that story up. The reason is here.

9 comments:

  1. Jew Shee and his older brother Jew Joe share the same features of eyes and nose. This is characteristic of the Jues. According to San Tong: Jew Joe and his older brother Jew Nui were a little more stocky in build, while Jew Shee and youngest brother Jew Yao were more slender in build. Perhaps the tophats worn by the students for this formal photo symbolized their doctoral status as "gentlemen scholars." In the center forground there sits a toolbox designed like a miniature mining trough with protractures and measuring tools. In the second row a student, second from left, holds a 6-foot tall Rover Rod used for land surveying. And behind the backrow of students stands 4 Topographic Levels on mounts used to calculate height, volume, and grade in land surveying for mining ventures. I remember that Jew Shee's engineering textbook on the Jue Joe Ranch showed illustrations of vertical, and slanted, air shafts and equations. To be accepted into this group of bright young scientists Jew Shee must have gotten not only top grades, but good recommendations from Jew Joe's prominent Caucasian friends. The Cal campus was poised to power America into the Industrial Revolution, so in 1895 Berkeley's famed architect Bernard Maybeck (teacher of Julia Morgan) encouraged Phoebe Hearst (mother of William Randolph Hearst) to search for talent to design a master plan for Cal, and within the plan, design a new building that would house the current School of Mining Engineering. The new plan for the Engineering School generated much excitement for Jew Shee and other students because it would be modeled after the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, France, it would have state-of-the-art labs to experiment with development of new metals, and its four stories would resemble that of a mind shaft. No wonder Jew Shee made a trip to Paris, he wanted to see the Bibliotheque Nationale and he wanted to absorb additional scientific techniques before heading for Manchuria. In America, the Foreign Miners Tax Acts, starting in 1852, made employment so difficult for Chinese and for employers to hire Chinese. Auntie Soo-Yin.

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  2. At the time of Jew Shee's attendance at UC Berkeley, the school's President was Martin Kellogg (1893-1899). In 1899 Benjamin Wheeler took the office (1899-1919). The new College of Mining Engineering in the Hearst Memorial Building was completed in 1907. Auntie Soo-Yin.

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  3. Correction: The gray-colored tophats worn by Jew Shee and his classmates were called a "Plug Hat." Juniors wore gray plug hats, and seniors wore black plug hats. This means that in 1898 Jew Shee was a Junior in the Doctorate Program in Engineering at UC Berkeley. Auntie Soo-Yin.

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  4. Correction: The Hearst Memorial Mining Building was modeled after the "Ecole de Beaux Arts" in Paris, not the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. The Ecole de Beaux Arts means "School of Fine Arts" in French. Julia Morgan, an architectural student of Bernard Maybeck at UC Berkeley, studied at the "Ecole." It is located on the Left Bank across the Seine River from the Louvre Museum. The Hearst Memorial Mining Building began construction from 1902-1907 under the guide of John Galen Howard. Auntie Soo-Yin.

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  5. In 1882 Bernard Maybeck studied at the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris, France, and came to Berkeley, California, in 1892. He became Professor of Engineering Drawing at UC Berkeley and, no doubt, Jew Shee studied drawing under his tutelage. Maybeck mentored many talented students in engineering and in architecture. He believed that every architectural/engineering problem required an "original solution," and taught his student to think innovatively. Auntie Soo-Yin.

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  6. CORRECTION: O.k., o.k., I blew it! The Hearst Memorial Mining Building WAS modeled after the "Bibliotheque Nationale" in Paris, NOT the Ecole de Beaux-Arts. Julia Morgan was at the "Ecole" at the same time that Jew Shee was in Paris to see the Bibliotheque and the Ecole. She was two years ahead of Jew Shee at UC Berkeley's Engineering Department, and both had studied under Bernard Maybeck. Also, Julia Morgan added the decorative motifs on the Hearst Memorial Mining Building. Auntie Soo-Yin.

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  7. THE CLASS PHOTO: A field outing for the Junior Class in their course, "Railroad, Highway, and Canal Engineering," accompanied by Frank Soule (straw hat), Dean of the College of Civil Engineering. The photo is also included in a book titled, "The University of California; a Pictorial History," by Albert G. Pickerell and May Dornin. President Martin Kellogg, then President Benjamin Wheeler (1899), rode a horse to make the rounds of the different colleges on campus. A Junior's plug hat was decorated to illustrate the owner's interest, then sat upon and kicked about until properly disreputable. Jew Shee's hat looks like it might have writing or drawing on it. Student rooms were limited on campus so Jew Shee might have stayed in Oakland's Chinatown and have traveled to and fro campus by horse-pulled trolley. Another professor that Jew Shee would have had, besides Bernard Maybeck, was Joseph LeConte who taught Geology and Natural Sciences. The Mining department was in the Mechanic Arts building, where Campbell Hall sits today. The Registration fee was $10, lab fee $5-$32, Diploma fee $10. A president's salary was $10,000, and professor's salary $2000-$3000. Auntie Soo-Yin.

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  8. MORE ABOUT CLASS PHOTO: Yesterday I saw the original photo in the Bancroft Library. The field outing in Civil Engineering was the annual "Summer Surveying Camp," and the course was in railroad, highway, and hydraulic engineering as stated in my previous comment. Jew Shee took summer courses, along with his semester courses, in order to finish his Ph.D program by around 1902. He probably transferred from Pomona to UC Berkeley in 1897, and was encouraged to do so by Byron Brant, who began to promote the building of a new Citrus Research Station at UC Riverside and who would have heard of UC Berkeley's immediate plans: Cal was struggling for money and was recruiting immigrant students to enlarge its student enrollment. Moreover, Cal's Professor Andrew Lawson was developing graduate courses in Mining Engineering because of high demand. On close examination of the photo there are students from various disciplines within the Engineering College: Four mining engineering students wrote "98" on their plug hats to show the importance of the course to them. Another studen drew a building with Roman columns to show his interest in architecture, influenced by Bernard Maybeck's Roman classicism. Another student was a mechanic arts major and drew pistons and gears. Jew Shee wrote "Mine" across his hat, then drew an underground mineshaft with two subterranean stations, the shaft reaching down into a large deposit formation. This showed his interest in mining engineering, his major. And the major required a combination of engineering classes and humanities classes, as well as a foreign language (French?). He took some philosophy courses and the textbooks, with his signature, were in a bookcase at the Jue Joe Ranch. For campus housing, Cal had eight Kepler cottages with ten students to each cottage. But they were leased to student clubs and faternities. Jew Shee would not have been admitted. Prejudice enveloped America at the time. Jue Joe would have arranged for housing in Oakland's Chinatown for his little brother because he knew people from his early years working in Northern California. According to Professor Joseph LeConte, the only electricity on campus from 1890-1900 came from the Engineering Lab. LeConte and his students, Jew Shee included, strung wire from the Lab to Bacon Hall Library and to South Hall so the buildings would be lit at night. By 1905 Jew Shee was in Harbin, Manchuria (Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905). According to San Tong, Jew Shee and his ten-year-old son arrived at Leong Shee's doorstep, in Sum Gong Village, in 1915 (WWI, 1914-1918).

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  9. Correction: The 4 students who wrote "98" on their Junior plug hats were Civil Engineering majors, not Mining majors. Jew Shee was the only Mining major in this class photo, as far as I can see. Auntie Soo-Yin.

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