Quan Yin, the Buddhist embodiment of compassion and mercy, is once again greeting visitors at the Lytton Chinese History Museum, which had its reopening on May 3.
Like its predecessor, which opened in May 2017, the museum stands on the site of the historic Lytton Joss House at the south end of Main Street. The Joss House was an integral part of Lytton’s Chinatown from 1881 until it was torn down in 1928, and its history was detailed in a 1933 article in the Vancouver Province entitled “Gods in a Lytton woodshed”.
The land was purchased in 1980 by Lorna and Bernie Fandrich, who were unaware of the site’s history. After coming across the article, Lorna — a history buff — vowed to build a facility that recognized the contributions of the Chinese community in the town over the decades.
In early 2016 the site received heritage status from the province (it is also on the Canadian Register of Historic Places), and in April 2016 work on the museum began. Apart from one donation of $1,000, the money for the construction of the museum and the acquisition of artefacts came from the Fandriches.
Lorna searched for items related to the Chinese community in Lytton and the surrounding area, and received a few donations. Other items were purchased, including a large collection from Kamloops resident Al Dreyer, who had acquired more than 150 items starting in 1974.
“I moved to Kamloops in 2016 and had to downsize,” Dreyer told the Journal in 2017. “By word of mouth I heard that Lorna was looking for Chinese display items. I wanted to sell it as one lot, and she came and looked at it and said ‘Wow.’ It worked out really well. I can go see it whenever I want, and it won’t get sold off.”
The Lytton Chinese History Museum quickly became a major attraction in the town. In 2019 Heritage BC conferred an Award of Outstanding Achievement on the museum, to recognize “special projects and accomplishments in the field of Education and Awareness”, and in early 2021 it received the Drs. Wallace B. and Madeline H. Chung Prize for Chinese Canadian Community Archiving. The citation noted that in addition to the physical museum, Lorna had spent “countless hours building a digital database of her entire collection of over 1,600 pieces and made it available through the Museum’s website, which has been noted as a valuable resource by scholars and has drawn interest from around the world.”
On June 30, 2021 — the day after Lytton registered the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada (49.6 C) — a fire of still-undetermined origin swept through Lytton and the surrounding area. It killed two people and destroyed 90 per cent of the downtown buildings, including the Chinese History Museum, which was reduced to rubble.
In October 2021, volunteers with the B.C. Heritage Emergency Recovery Network sifted through the remains of the museum and recovered 200 of the 1,600 artefacts, 40 of which were in good condition, although some had been fused with glass from the shelving due to the intense heat. A few are on display in a case by the door, along with a brief description of the fire and two photographs of the museum site immediately after the fire.
“I wanted to display a bit about the fire,” explains Lorna. “It’s part of the museum’s story now, but it isn’t the story I want to tell.”
By the time the sifting took place, Lorna says she had come to terms with the fact that everything was gone. Asked if she had known all along that she would rebuild, she admits that it wasn’t a straightforward decision.
“When I first built this I was 65 years old, and I thought at that time ‘I’ll start this museum and I’ll run it until I’m 72 or 73 and then donate all the artefacts to the Lytton Museum [which was also destroyed in the 2021 fire] and decide what to do with the building.'
“Well, I’ll be 73 in July, so we’re starting over where I was going to end. So I plan to run it while I’m still happy and comfortable with it. If not, these things will be donated to the Lytton Museum when it’s rebuilt. It’s not like I could expect someone to take over the museum. As you know, they don’t make money. I’m doing it because I’m passionate about it.”
Among the items lost in the fire were the plans for the original museum, so when Cedric Yu of Altforma Architecture came in to design the new building they started from scratch, using the original museum as a guide. One of the most notable differences is the elimination of two small rooms at the north end of the building, where some of the artefacts were displayed.
“I’d like to give credit to Cedric," says Lorna. "Right after the fire he volunteered to do new plans for the building if I wished, and donated his time. I gave him a sketch of the basic plan before, and he came up with some concepts with more open flow.”
Lorna liked the new ideas, which included an open ceiling that wasn’t there before, but says a few people she showed the new plans to thought it might be too much of a change. “I thought ‘Let’s be fresh and new and start again.’ And the flow is better the way it is.
“The two little rooms before: I always said they would be the caretaker room and a guest room, but the real reason I put them in initially is because I thought I wouldn’t have enough artefacts to fill the space, so I was actually going to put artisans in those two rooms. It turned out I filled those rooms too.”
Having decided to rebuild, Lorna needed to find artefacts for the museum, and says that some of the items now on display came from the Kelowna museum system, from Enderby, and from the Royal B.C. Museum.
“But most of them are just individuals giving me things, three or four pieces at a time, lots of individuals. I made a list of things I’m missing from the past, and there are about 12 things I’d still like to find somewhere.”
More than 100 people were on hand on May 3 to celebrate the new museum’s grand reopening, in a ceremony reminiscent of the one that took place nearly eight years earlier. Monks from the Lion’s Gate Buddhist Priory once again performed a blessing, and members of the Shao Lin Hun Gar Lion Dance team from Vancouver — many of whom were there in 2017 — returned, to the delight of the crowd. Ron Chong spoke on behalf of his family, which came to Lytton in 1885, and congratulated Lorna for the “beautiful and impressive museum, and her strength and determination to rebuild. Many thanks for recognizing the presence of Chinese people here.”
MLA Teresa Wat, the Opposition Critic for Tourism, Arts, Culture, Anti-Racism and Trade, described the reopening of the museum as a “historic moment,” saying it was a testament to the perseverance of Lorna and the community of Lytton, while Fraser-Nicola MLA Tony Luck thanked everyone who had worked to restore the museum.
MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert, Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport, referenced the heavy wind on the day, noting that “The winds of optimism and opportunity are blowing through.” He added that “Heritage and museums and understanding history is vital for going forward. If we don’t know our history, about the Nlaka’pamux and settlers and Chinese Canadians who built this country, we don’t know the future.
“Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, this community is rising again. Thank you, Lorna; you’re a treasure.”
Lytton mayor Denise O’Connor echoed his sentiments. “This opening is a symbol of what is happening here, and what’s to come in the village. Congratulations, Lorna.”
Lorna acknowledged the many moving and positive moments in the first few years of the museum, people’s reactions to the museum, and why it was — and is — important.
“After the fire I had a major decision, whether to rebuild or not. The offers of financial support were overwhelming, and the donations of artefacts. Every day when I came to visit [the site], people were taking pride in what they were doing. Thank you to those who came today.”
The Lytton Chinese History Museum is open Thursday through Monday from noon to 4 p.m. through May, and will be open 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thursday through Monday starting in June.
