Historical Significance

During the height of the anti-Chinese movement, Wells Fargo produced English-Chinese merchant directories during the 1870s, and again in 1882--the same year that the Chinese Exclusion Act restricted Chinese immigration. Chinese communities in remote towns and mining camps relied on Wells Fargo's express service to communicate with Asian merchants and importers in cities of the West. The directories not only benefited Chinese communities, but also bridged the language barrier separating Chinese communities from English-speaking communities. At the Chicago exposition of 1893, Wells Fargo displayed an advertisement signaling its reliance on Chinese businesses: "The Company by its fair and impartial treatment of the public, has always enjoyed the special favor and patronage of the Chinese of the Pacific Coast, who have unbounded faith in its responsibility and integrity, both as an Express and a Bank."