Here’s another photo found by the wonderful Toby Salk and this one is quite historic. From The Great Mahjong Book: History, Lore, and Play by Jelte Rep we learn that our beloved game was brought to our shores in 1920 by Joseph P. Babcock, an expat working for Standard Oil while living in Shanghai. Babcock and his wife were great lovers of the mystical Chinese tile game. Here is a bio of Babcock by Jelte Rep:

And here is the historic photo that Toby found…It is Joseph P. Babcock and his wife enjoying an evening of Mah-Jongg with their friends…we might be living almost 100 years later since the game came to America but we recreate this scene daily (maybe without the formal evening clothes!).