Mooie Eng collection

Collection

Identifier: 1994.013

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of photographs and paper materials (brochures, pamphlets, and reports) from Mooie Eng's tenure at the Community Service Center. The photographs are black and white, and the majority of them depict Mooie Eng demonstrating proper health care techniques to women. They are all dated 1954. There are two images of the Golden Age Club, depicting older men and children, most likely from around 1954. The paper materials include bulletins from CSS, dated 1947, 1971, and 1973; health pamphlets, most likely all from the late 1950s-early 1960s, some of which were printed by other organizations, such as the American Cancer Society; a banquet program from the 50th anniversary celebration of CSS, from 1971; and two reports about health services for Chinese Americans, one from 1962 and the other from 1976. Objects are also searchable via PastPerfect Online System at http://mocanyc.pastperfectonline.com/randomimages.

Dates

Creation: Majority of material found in late 1940s-mid 1970s

Language of Materials

Most of the health pamphlets are in English and Chinese.

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is unrestricted.

Conditions Governing Use

For reference use only; not for reproduction, distribution, or deposit in another collection. Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be discussed with the Director of Collections. If publishing, cite: Mooie Eng Collection, Museum of Chinese in America.

Biographical / Historical

Mooie Eng was a nurse for the Community Service Society (CSS), a private agency in New York City staffed by social workers and public health nurses. In 1946, Eng formed the Lay Committee of Concerned Chinatown residents when a number of men contracted tuberculosis in Chinatown. She also helped create a dictionary of English and Chinese health terms for the influx of war brides, and she conducted classes and follow-up visits with many of these women when they became new mothers. In the 1950s, she was instrumental in opening a senior center in Chinatown, known as the "Golden Age" club. In the 1960s, she helped found the Chinatown Planning Council, and in 1970, she helped form a partnership with Beekman Hospital in which a Chinese doctor saw patients at CSS and then held follow-up appointments at the hospital.