Born in Victoria, BC, Wallace Chung attended Victoria College, the University of British Columbia, and McGill University and was among the early Chinese Canadians to embark on a professional career. In 1953 he married Dr. Madeline Chung (née Huang). Dr. Wallace Chung specialized in vascular surgery and was the first Chinese-Canadian to head a department of surgery in Canada. When he retired from the University of British Columbia in 1991 he had served as Professor of Surgery and Head of the Department of Surgery at the UBC Hospital. Dr. Madeline Chung was born in Shanghai. China, and grew up in Hong Kong. She came to Canada in 1949 and specialized in obstetrics. Both have been very active in community service in Vancouver.
Dr. Wallace Chung assembled an extensive research collection of more than 25,000 items on the exploration of the Pacific Northwest, the Chinese experience in North America, and British Columbia, and the Canadian Pacific Railway Company including its trans-Pacific and coastwise shipping lines. Dr. Chung is an expert collector and includes manuscript material and realia as well as the expected printed material in his collecting lexicon. A small portion of the collection is exhibited in the Chung Room in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.
The Wallace and Madeline Chung Collection is featured on its own website where researchers may browse and search for materials.
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Chung Collection Website
UBC Library Catalogue
Walter B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection