85,000 Chinese museum artefacts lost in New York fire in Lunar New Year disaster

‘One hundred per cent of the museum’s collection’ was lost in the blaze, the Museum of Chinese in America says

The museum’s collection included items such as textiles, restaurant menus and ship tickets that tell the story of Chinese migration to the US

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Firefighters work to extinguish fire from a building in Manhattan's Chinatown district on January 23, 2020. Photo: NYC Fire Department/Twitter

Published: 11:40am, 25 Jan 2020Updated: 11:40am, 25 Jan 2020

About 85,000 historic and artistic items that tell the story of the Chinese migration to the United States are feared lost in a fire that struck a building in the heart of Manhattan’s Chinatown, a museum official said on Friday.

The president of the Museum of Chinese in America told The New York Times that the fire started on Thursday night and tore through a building where the museum’s acquisitions were stored.

“One hundred per cent of the museum’s collection, other than what is on view,” said Nancy Yao Maasbach, the president of the museum.

Maasbach said the collection was one of a kind and that she was “just distraught” after receiving the news.

The fire started in a former school that more recently housed a senior centre, the Chen Dance Centre and a number of community groups. The museum is nearby and stored its collection in the structure that was hit by fire.

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