...
this.db
        .collection(uid, (ref) => {
          console.log('ref', ref);
          return ref.where('year', '==', '1954').orderBy('lastName');
        })
        .snapshotChanges()
...

This produces the error:

ERROR TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'length')
    at MatTableDataSource._filterData (table.js:725)

When I dig into the table module in node_modules at @angular/material/ivy_ngcc/fesm2015/table.js :

 /**
     * Returns a filtered data array where each filter object contains the filter string within
     * the result of the filterTermAccessor function. If no filter is set, returns the data array
     * as provided.
     */
    _filterData(data) {
        // If there is a filter string, filter out data that does not contain it.
        // Each data object is converted to a string using the function defined by filterTermAccessor.
        // May be overridden for customization.
        this.filteredData = (this.filter == null || this.filter === '') ? data :
            data.filter(obj => this.filterPredicate(obj, this.filter));
        if (this.paginator) {
            console.log('this.filteredData', this.filteredData);
            this._updatePaginator(this.filteredData.length);
        }
        return this.filteredData;
    }

if I use .orderBy or where, or any other query by itself, this.filteredData returns the array of filtered data, as expected. But if I try to use multiple queries, as in the example above with .where().orderBy() then this.filteredData returns undefined.

Anyone have any idea why this might be?