The exhibit below, purchased for the Museum in October 2008, is the second item from the periodical Harper's Weekly. In contrast to the Opium Den image, described by the periodical eight years later, this exhibit depicts a scene in New York in the notorious slum area of Baxter Street. Whilst the area is synonymous with poverty and vice there is an element of calm and quiet sophistication to the opium den portrayed, with gambling taking place in the background and the focused imbibing of opiates in the centre ground.

Purchased by the Museum of Drugs Paraphernalia and Related Antiquities April 2008

At the bottom of the image, the regular user abandons himself to his dreams with gentle, carefree expression. All around, the reader bares witness to a scene of relative luxury, the lamps and awnings, the mock Chinese symbols and ornate paper lanterns, all suggesting an oasis of some means tucked away from the slum beyond the venue doorway.

The centre figure with his face to the reader suggests a man of some reasonable means, well dressed and wearing glasses, perhaps implying some degree of intellect.

Yet the title invites the reader into the world of the Chinese in New York, to assess the culture, lifestyles and contribution that they have brought to the land of the free as migrant workers. Again, the suggestion appears to be that wherever the Chinese reside, there is sure to be the vices of gambling and opium use, viewed by the audience as innate to the Chinese way of being, despire of the opportunities afforded by residency in America.

Harper's Weekly may have explored other aspects of Chinese immigration to America, their contribution to other aspects of the economy for example. However the message here to the people of the United States is one of suspicion.

Left, late 19th Century and early 20th Century photographs of Baxter Street and adjacent slums.