CSU JAPANESE AMERICAN DIGITIZATION PROJECT COLLECTIONS
CSUJAD Partners:
Finding Aid
American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California Records
Collections to be digitized include: Korematsu Case Files in the ACLU-Northern California records relating to the WWII Japanese American incarceration, 1942-1946. The ACLU-Northern California records contain legal documents pertaining to the ACLU’s fight on behalf of Japanese Americans in the case argued before the Supreme Court in Korematsu v. United States (1944). Legal notes and personal correspondence between Fred Korematsu and Ernest Besig, Executive Director of the ACLU-NC are included. Finding Aid
Joseph R. Goodman Papers
Collection on Japanese Incarceration, 1942-1944. Goodman was a strong advocate for the Japanese American community in San Francisco and provided support to friends in the War Relocation Authority camps; aiding Japanese American students and activists; participating in the anti-internment movement; and, between 1942 and 1944, teaching high school math and science at the Topaz Camp in Utah.
Finding Aid
Fred S. Farr Correspondence
Digital items not available yet.
Correspondence and miscellany relating to the WWII Japanese-American mass removal, 1942-1945. Includes 7 letters from Eiko Fuji at Santa Anita Assembly Center in 1942 and then from the Jerome camp.
Brocade of Sacramento Valley, 1911 Translated Title: Japanese in California: A pictorial history. By Nichei Bei Times, 1911
Manzanar collection
The Manzanar Collection features materials relating to the mass removal to Manzanar, California, of Miriko Nagahama and Honey Mitsuye Toda, including correspondence, photographs, and newspapers, donated in 1981 and 1995.
smith family papers on world war ii
Edwin Sasaki Oral History Collection
the japanese internment collection
The CSU Dominguez Hills Japanese American collections document Japanese American history throughout the 20th and into the 21st centuries. The institution’s featured collections include newsletters, photographs, correspondence, legal documents, memos, ephemera, and other community-based materials. The Rancho San Pedro Collection contains material related to the tenants residing on large ranches run by the Dominguez Family’s descendants. It includes land leases and official documents related to the California Alien Land Act as well as correspondence during World War II from tenants requesting assistance. The Ishibashi Collection, contains photographs, land leases, newspaper clippings, and other material related to Kumekichi and Masaichi Ishibashi, Japanese American farmers from Palos Verdes. Among the World War II-era collections are the following. The Hiroshi Fukuwa Manzanar Diary details Hiroshi Fukuwa’s experiences during World War II and includes newsletters, clippings, and handwritten notes about the Manzanar, Gila River, and Tule Lake incarceration camps. The J. Ralph McFarling Collection contains material generated by J. Ralph McFarling, a Community Analyst for the War Relocation Authority. It includes letters, weekly reports, camp photographs, and a ten-page typescript memoir describing the Granada incarceration camp conditions. The Asian Pacific Studies Collection includes newsletters, statements, speeches, personal documents, photographs, and other materials primarily related to Japanese American incarceration. There are also several collections focused on redress and reparations as well as families. The Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga Papers contain documents, research, photographs, and other material related to the researcher and activist, Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga. The Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress (NCRR) Records include collections from organization members, including Roy Nakano and Jim Matsuoka, that focus on the organization through documents, event flyers, programs, books, and publications. The featured family-focused collections include the Jim and Eric Saito Family Collection, Akamine and Fuchita Family Papers, and the Takano Family Papers. These collections include photographs, photo albums, yearbooks, family trees, material from incarceration camps, etc.. Lastly, the most extensive Japanese American collection is the Ninomiya Studio Collection. It includes post-World War II negatives and prints from a family-owned photo studio in Little Tokyo.
akamine and fuchita family papers
The Akamine and Fuchita Family Papers (circa 1880-December 20, 1996) contains 2.51 linear feet and 209 mb of letters, certificates, oral histories, yearbooks, scrapbooks, photographs, and other ephemera related to the Akamine, Fuchita, and Yasumura families. The collection mostly focuses on the Fuchita family, who moved from Japan to the United States around 1916. The collection documents their time in Japan, California, the Manzanar incarceration camp, and their lives after camp. The oral history interviews were recorded on DVDS, cassette tapes, and VHS tapes. The interviewees include Joseph Ismau Fuchita, Eric Akamine, and Shizuko Akamine. For more material about the Fuchita family consult the Japanese American National Museum’s collection, Fuchita Family Collection.
glenn m. anderson collection
Digital items not available yet.
This collection comprises papers related to the long political career of Glenn M. Anderson, who served in California as mayor of the city of Hawthorne, as State Assemblyman, and as Lieutenant Governor, then represented the state in the House of Representatives. The wide-ranging collection contains legislation, reports, correspondence, scrapbooks, newsletters, audio-visual material, and other items recording Anderson’s deep involvement in the political issues facing California and the United States, and his work with many of the major political figures of the twentieth century, including Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Adlai Stevens, Edmund G. “Pat” Brown, and others. Anderson’s State Assembly materials consist of correspondence, State Assembly and State Senate bills and other materials showing Anderson’s involvement with severa; issues facing California in the 1940s, including Japanese American incarceration in World War II and the Alien Land laws. Other materials may include redress issues in the 1970s and 1980s.
asian pacific studies collection
The collection contains newsletters, statements, speeches, articles, camp directories, newspapers, magazines, personal documents, photographs and artifacts. The majority of the material is focused on the mass removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. However, there are also photographs of Japanese in Los Angeles at the turn of the century. Series include newsletters, photographs, published materials and Nihongo (Japanese Language) Syllabi (1943-1944), Okine Family correspondence (some from Rowher) and materials that were found in an abandoned farmhouse on the east part of CSUDH.
okine collection
(part of the asian pacific studies collection)
The Okine Collection contains materials collected by Seiichi and Tomeyo Okine who were Issei flower growers in Whittier, California, including correspondence, photographs, financial documents, and a photo album. A large portion of the collection consists of family correspondence with Seiichi and Tomeyo Okine, letters from their Nisei children, Masao and Makoto Okine, both soldiers overseas during World War II, to their Issei parents incarcerated in the Rohwer incarceration camp in McGehee, Arkansas. The correspondence also includes letters from their relatives and friends, former incarcerees in the WWII camps who “resettled” in Chicago, Illinois, as well as letters from the Okines’ family members in Hiroshima, Japan during the Allied occupation of Japan. In addition, the collection has a family photo album compiled by Dorothy Ai Aoki, a Nisei daughter to the Okines.
fred bradford manzanar collection
Fred Bradford is a member of the Manzanar Committee, an organization that began in 1970 after the first pilgrimage to Manzanar took place in December 1969. The Manzanar Committee worked to establish Manzanar as a California State Historical Landmark and to educate others about the history of Japanese American incarceration. Fred Bradford went to his first Manzanar Pilgrimage in 1982 and has participated in most of the pilgrimages ever since. He served as Treasurer for the committee in 2009 and now serves as a committee member.
BLUE CIRCLE AND FRIENDS / KOMAI FAMILY SLIDES
Collection of Crystal City Japanese Peruvian Internees letters
The collection of Crystal City Japanese Peruvian Internees Letters contains three letters written by Kiyoko and Yoshihiko Matsuura, Japanese Peruvians interned at the Crystal City internment camp, Texas, to their mother/grandmother, Kiyoko Noda, who remains in Lima, Peru. This collection has been moved to the Japanese American History Collection.
Collection of nISEI wEEK fESTIVAL pROGRAMS
Collection of Terminal Island Personal Histories
Colonisation Japonaise au Perou [=Japanese colonisation at Peru] Photo Album
This collection contains one photo album compiled by a Japanese Peruvian family in which the photos depict the daily occurrences and the people of the Japanese Peruvian community from 1930 to 1950.
csujad project resource collection
Includes posters, a map, a postcard, and wallpaper, which were created for an exhibition and a symposium, “And then they came for us…: marking the 75th anniversary of Executive Order 9066 authorizing the mass incarceration of Japanese-American citizens during WWII.” The symposium was held on February 9, 2017 at California State University, Dominguez Hills. The exhibition was held at the Library Cultural Arts Gallery, California State University, Dominguez Hills, February 9-May 20, 2017.
del amo estate company collection
Digital items not available yet.
The company leased land to a number of Japanese and Chinese tenants; leases for these tenants are notable for including copies of birth certificates, proof of citizenship, and other documentation needed for compliance with California’s Alien Land Act. After President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the forced removal of people of Japanese descent from the western United States, some Del Amo tenants were sent to incarceration camps. This collection contains correspondence related to forced removal, including letters sent from incarceration camps.
henry fukuhara paint out collection
Henry Fukuhara (April 25, 1913 – January 31, 2010) was a Japanese American abstract watercolor artist. He is best known for his watercolor paintings of Santa Monica (CA) and Manzanar, an incarceration camp where people of Japanese descent were held during World War II. Fukuhara and his family were incarcerated at Manzanar from 1942 to 1943. He began painting later in life and quickly became a teacher and mentor to many modern artists and continues to influence watercolor artists today. Fukuhara’s art work can be found in the permanent collections at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, San Bernardino Museum of Art, and the Japanese American Museum of Art. He was also a member of the National Watercolor Society.
jimmy fukuhara manzanar camp collection
Digital items not available yet.
The Jimmy Fukuhara Manzanar Camp Collection (1978-2013) contains 0.21 linear feet of photographs, letters, flyers, postcards, booklets, newspaper clippings, newspapers, and notes related to Jimmy Fukuhara, the Fukuhara family, and the Manzanar incarceration camp. Included in the collection are photographs of Jimmy and his wife, Eileen, and a schoolteacher, Eve Beekman, who taught at the Manzanar camp. Other materials, such as the articles, postcards, and flyers, are about Henry Fukuhara, Jimmy’s brother, and his “Paint Out” Watercolor Workshops to Manzanar and the surrounding areas that began in the late 1980s.
City of gardena japanese cultural Show Photo Albums
Digital items not available yet.
The City of Gardena Japanese Cultural Show Photo Albums includes five photograph albums from the City of Gardena Japanese Cultural Show sponsored by the Gardena Valley Gardeners Association. The albums contain newspaper clippings, photographs, programs, and invitation letters for the event. Topics include Japanese American gardeners, bonsai, ikebana, Japanese gardens, martial arts, and other topics related to the event and the Nikkei (Japanese American) community.
Gripsholm Exchanges manuscript
Manuscript memoir entitled The Gripsholm Exchanges: a short concise report on the exchanges of the hostages during WWII between the United States and Japan as it relates to Japanese Americans by Atushi Archie Miyamoto. These hostage exchanges took place between July 1942 and August 1943 in Lourenço Marques, Mozambique and Mormugao, India respectively. The author was a child passenger of the second exchange aboard the Swedish liner S.S. Gripsholm, which was used as a repatriation ship during World War II. Mr. Miyamoto returned to the United States as a teenager in 1948 and served as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. army until his retirement. The collection consists of two unpublished manuscripts written in October 2006, an original and revised version. The manuscript reviews the diplomatic negotiations which started in December 1941 and includes the accounts of two voyages, their stops en-route to their final destinations, and the hardships families experienced while painting a vivid picture of the detainees’ experience. The author also dispels common misconceptions that depict the exchange as exclusively one of prisoners of war or one including Japanese American internees from the Tule Lake internment camp in California rather than the actual detainees who were mostly diplomats. This manuscript is based on the analyses of post-war Japanese resources, the Gripsholm passengers’ lists, United States redress provisions for persons of Japanese ancestry, redress appeals, and personal testimonials of Japanese detainees, many of which are included as appendixes.
hEART mOUNTAIN sENTINEL
This collection contains newspapers from the Heart Mountain incarceration camp. Some of the newspapers have been digitized
and are available online.
aiko herzig yoshinaga collection
Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga Papers includes photographs and a letter related to Aiko’s life, family, and work. Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga was an activist for the Japanese American Redress Movement whose research conducted for the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians provided key evidence that led to redress. She later co-edited the transcription and publication of the CWRIC hearings, along with other related projects. This collection mostly includes photographs from her early life, primarily focused on the years 1930-1950. Depicted in the photographs are the Jerome and Rower incarceration camps, post- World War II Japan, Japanese American soldiers, and Japanese American families.
Mike Hiranuma Family Photographs
This collection contains photographs of the Hiranuma family and others at the Heart Mountain incarceration camp. Images in the collection depict barracks, incarcerees, and life at the camp.
hiroshi fukuwa manzanar diary
The Hiroshi Fukuwa Manzanar Diary consists of a diary written by Hiroshi Ted Fukuwa, Kibei Nisei of Los Angeles, California, along with newsletters, clippings, and handwritten notes created/collected during his incarceration. His diary details his experiences during World War II, starting from the day when he left Los Angeles for the Manzanar incarceration camp in California and including his transfer to the Gila River camp in Arizona and segregation in the Tule Lake camp in California. The diary describes trips to the camps, construction of facilities, living conditions, work and salaries, events, incidents and accidents, reflecting a Kibei perspective.
Hiroji Hosaka Family Letters
Hiroji Hosaka Family Letters consists of correspondence between Hiroji Hosaka and his family and friends while he was imprisoned in the Santa Fe Internment Camp, the Santa Anita Assembly Center, and the Heart Mountain incarceration camp during World War II. Incoming and outgoing letters from and to the Santa Fe Internment Camp were censored and some information was deducted. Also included are prewar photographs of the Daiichi Rafu Gakuen, that is, a Japanese language school in Los Angeles, and Japanese archery, a photograph of the Heart Mountain camp, and his business cards prior to the war.
henry y. Ikemoto Papers
This collection consists of the papers of Henry Y. Ikemoto, a former LA County Probation Officer and a veteran of World War II and the Korean War. The collection contains books, pamphlets, newsletters, correspondence, World War II photographs and other related materials.
George Inagaki Letters
Digital items not available yet.
The collection contains personal letters sent to George Inagaki who served as JACL National President from 1952 to 1956.
Indonesian Sailors Deportation Photograph Collection
This collection of nine images documents the detention of a group of Indonesian seamen in 1947 as they awaited the outcome of deportation proceedings in the federal courts. The images show these roughly 200 men at an immigration detention center in downtown San Francisco, at the Southern Pacific depot in San Francisco, and on a ship called the “Marine Lynx” in the San Francisco Bay.
Ishibashi Family Collection
Photographs, land leases, photo album, newspaper clippings, films and other materials relating to the life, family and work of Kumekichi and Masaichi Ishibashi, Japanese American farmers in Palos Verdes, California between 1910 and the 1980s. Includes photographs of the San Pedro Vegetable Growers Association, farming, Japanese American family life and a variety of other topics. Leases mostly between 1910 and 1920.
Atsushi Art Ishida Collection
The Atsushi Art Ishida Collection is comprised of about 900 photographs (prints, negatives, digital reproductions) and other materials chronicling his time immediately after/during his incarceration in the Santa Anita Assembly Center in California, the Jerome incarceration camp in Arkansas, the Tule Lake Segregation Center in California, and the Minidoka incarceration camp in Idaho, and also depicting his time in pre-war Japan and during the Korean War.
Japanese American History Collection
This collection contains books, pamphlets, flyers, photographs, booklets, correspondence, periodicals, and oversized material related to Japanese Americans. Subjects in the collection include incarceration camps, South Bay local history, World War II propaganda, Japanese American families, incarceration camp pilgrimages, and other topics.
Tsugitada Kanamori Collection
This collection contains one box of documents belonging to Tsugitada Kanamori. Materials in this collection mostly pertain to Kanamori’s efforts regarding cancelling his renunciation and reinstating his American citizenship.
Kato and Shiimori Family Photographs
The Kato and Shiimori Family Photographs contain photographs collected by Yvonne Achacoso; a student of a history class taught by Professor Donald Teruo Hata at CSU Dominguez Hills. She interviewed two Nisei Japanese Americans, Roy Yasuharu Kato and John Ishihei Iwatsuru who experienced the forced evacuation and incarceration during World War II. Kato was incarcerated in the Heart Mountain camp, Wyoming, and Iwatsuru was incarcerated in the Jerome camp, Arkansas and the Granada camp, Colorado. Their wives were both daughters of the Shiimori family, who was also incarcerated in the Jerome camp and the Gila River, Arizona. Included are photographs of the Gila River camp collected from the Shiimori family album as well as photographs depicting lives of the incarcerees in the Heart Mountain camp gathered from the Kato family album. All items originally belonged to the Donald Teruo Hata and Nadine Ishitani Hata Asian Pacific Studies Collection.
Tazu kawamoto Photo Album
The Tazu Kawamoto Photo Album contains one album of mostly photographs compiled by Tazuko “Tazu” Kawamoto that document various people, events, and activities throughout 1939-1943. Included are photographs, flyers, invitations, and business cards relating to Tazu Kawamoto’s personal life, with a focus on events during the World’s Fair on San Francisco’s Treasure Island in 1939. This collection also has photographs most likely taken inside the Gila River incarceration camp in Arizona, including a photograph of dentists at the Rivers Community Hospital.
ted Kihara photograph collection
Digital items not available yet.
This collection contains one box of photographic images taken by Ted Kahara, a World War II Japanese-American Infantryman and Intelligence Officer. Materials include: 35 mm slides, negatives, and photographs.
yetsuko Kiyomi Photo Album
Collection contains a family photo album compiled by Yetsuko Kiyomi, who is a Kibei Nisei born to Japanese immigrant parents, Misaburo and Sayo Sakai, and raised in the Japanese farming community in the town of Holland, Clarksburg, Yolo County, California. She returned to Kumamoto, Japan where she was educated and resided from pre-war through post-war and sailed back to the U.S. and married to Genjiro Kiyomi in 1957. The included photographs depict her life in two countries, the U.S. and Japan. Additional materials in the collection include: a group photograph of her 6th grade Mifune Elementary School, her mother’s side family trees, and her husband’s biographical information.
Kobata Family Photographs
The Kobata Family Photographs includes photographs from the early 20th century related to the Kobata family and the nursery they owned in Los Angeles. It also includes an image of the family standing in front of a house during the 1932 Olympics.
kuromi photo album collection
This collection contains two photograph albums and material related to Hitoshi “Yoke” Kuromi and Corrine Nobuko Nishimura Kuromi. Subjects in the collection include the Kuromi family, the Gila River incarceration camp, and hot rods.
Kuwahara family papers
This collection documents the Kuwahara family’s time at the Poston incarceration camp in Arizona during World War II. Materials include newsletters from the schools and community in the Poston camp, photographs of the people incarcerated at the camp and the desert landscape, watercolor paintings of the camp facilities, and programs and booklets from the reunions of the Poston camp families.
Virginia B. Lowers Collection
This collection contains one box of three letters addressed to Virginia B. Lowers, a former high school teacher at University High School in Los Angeles, California. The letter from Masaru Teshiba contains information regarding his experiences as an incarceree mostly while at Tule Lake Segregation Center, the letter from Thomas A. Reeves details his combat experiences, and the letter from W.W. [Escherich] describes events during his trips to Maui, Tientsin China, and Okinawa. This collection has been moved to the Japanese American History Collection.
Manzanar Photo Album
The Manzanar Photo Album contains photographs and newspaper clippings about the Manzanar incarceration camp. Photographs include images of children, barracks, funerals, along with two additional photos from a welcome party for Dr. Furukochi at the Koyasan Betsuin in Los Angeles and a photograph of the Santa Fe Japanese Baseball Team. The newspaper clippings in the collection are primarily about the riots at the Manzanar incarceration camp.
satoru maeda Heart Mountain Photo Album
This collection contains one photograph album mostly depicting life at the Heart Mountain incarceration camp located in Cody, Wyoming. The album contains images of life inside the camp, with several images taken ten years earlier.
Masumoto and Saito Family Photographs
The Masumoto and Saito Family Photos documents four generations of the Japanese American family in San Francisco and Los Angeles, California. Photographs depict the family’s businesses, trips, weddings, funeral, and others. Included are Jack Toshio Robert Masumoto’s trading company in San Francisco, Toraichi Okamoto’s produce store in Glendale, Southern California Sewing School in Little Tokyo, Japanese passenger ships, family outings such as trip to Golden Gate International Exposition and picnics, family gatherings for the wedding of Jack Toshio Robert and Teruko Okamoto in Japan, Traichi’s Western-style house in Japan, the Manzanar incarceration camp during the war, the post-war activities of the Koyasan Boy Scouts of America, and Tokyo during the Allied Occupation of Japan.
Jim Matsuoka Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress Records
This collection includes flyers, newspaper clippings, organizational documents, agendas, publications, books, and other materials related to the Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress (NCRR) organization, formally known as the National Coalition for Redress and Reparations, and one of its founding members, Jim Matsuoka. It also includes material related to the Little Tokyo People’s Rights Organization (LTPRO), Japanese Americans, Japanese Latin Americans, Little Tokyo, and incarceration camps.
J. Ralph McFarling Collection
Collection of materials generated by J. Ralph McFarling documenting the Amache Incarceration Camp in Granada, Colorado where Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II. The collection Includes a ten page typescript memoir entitled “The Day the Ban Was Lifted” by McFarling describing conditions in the camp, weekly reports written by McFarling to the War Relocation Administration in Washington DC (1944-1945), memos and other data relating to camp management, letters from former prisoners who had left the camp and moved throughout the United States, a “resettlement” handbook and guides to the Amache camp published at the camp. Also included is a Smithsonian pamphlet entitled “The Japanese” published in 1943, a pamphlet entitled “The Displaced Japanese-Americans” published by the America Council on Public Affairs and a pamphlet entitled “Japan” by the editors of Fortune Magazine, 1944 and four camp photographs, three watercolor paintings of concentration camp barracks and their desert surroundings by H. Takata.
Minidoka Incarceration camp Photograph Album
This collection contains one photograph album mostly depicting life at the Minidoka Incarceration Camp located in South Central Idaho during World War Two. The album contains images of life inside and presumably outside the camp. It also features photographs of Ben Kuroki, a Japanese-American who served in the United States Army Air Force during World War II.
yukio Mochizuki Collection
The Mochizuki Collection contains correspondence, documents, newspaper articles, term papers, and photographs. The materials in the collection primarily relate to a World War II era U.S. government program to intern Japanese Latin Americans in the United States. Although thirteen countries from Latin America participated in this program, eighty percent of the prisoners were sent by Peru. The first group of Japanese Peruvians left Peru aboard the Etolin on April 5, 1942. Many others followed soon after. The Japanese Peruvians were housed in three different camps in Texas: Kennedy, Seagoville, and Crystal City. They lived in these camps for the duration of the war. Mr. Mochizuki’s original research was about Japanese American incarceration, so there is some material related to that theme. However, most of the material relates to Japanese Peruvian internment. The collection contains personal documents belonging to Japanese Peruvian internees, primarily Manuel Ykari, a native-born Peruvian who eventually stayed in the United States and became a citizen. There is also an official report about the Japanese in Peru by John Emmerson, Second Secretary to the American Embassy in Peru during World War II. The collection contains government memos, Warren Rucker’s unpublished Masters’ Thesis on Japanese Peruvians, and newspaper articles from the 1940s-1980s. The newspaper articles are on various subjects including the incarceration of Japanese Americans, Japanese Peruvians, and Japanese Canadians. There are also other government memos included.
roy tsuyoshi nakai collection
This collection includes reports, agendas, meeting minutes, student guides, books, and a panoramic photograph related to the Manzanar Incarceration Camp, the Nakai family, and the Treasure Chest Program in Orange County. The collection mostly contains material from the Treasure Chest Program in Orange County, a multicultural educational program by the Multicultural Arts Council of Orange County. Other material in the collection, such as the reports and books, relate to the Nakai family and the Manzanar incarceration camp.
George Nakano Family Papers
This collection contains books, booklets, proposals, printed newspaper articles, ephemera, and digitized scrapbooks related to George Nakano, former Assembly member and Torrance City Council member. Subjects include the Jerome and Tule Lake incarceration camps, the Nakano family, and George Nakano’s political career.
Roy Nakano Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress
This collection includes material from one of the co-founders of the Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress, Roy Nakano. It contains correspondence, flyers, programs, articles, and meeting minutes related to the Gardena Chapter and Los Angeles Chapter of the organization, which was formally known as the National Coalition for Redress/Reparations. The collection also includes event information for a reception to honor Fred Korematsu, and screening information for Steve Okazaki’s film, Unfinished Business (Three who Fought the Internment of Japanese-Americans).
George and Mitzi Naohara Papers
This collection contains photo albums and scrapbooks compiled by George Naohara and Mitzi (Masukawa) Naohara as well as other materials depicting their experiences during World War II and the Korean War. There are also materials regarding the Gardena Buddhist Church activities in which George Naohara engaged after the war.
Nanka Fukushima Kenjinkai Collection
Digital items not available yet.
The collection contains materials depicting activities of the members of Nanka Fukushima Kenjinkai. Included are photographs from 1908-2010, membership directories, Rafu Shimpo newspaper articles by Hiroko Aihara, a DVD of a Japanese television program about Fukushima immigrants and Okei who is the first Japanese woman to immigrate to the United States, a book by Yasuji Sato, entitled “加州と福島縣人” [= California and the immigrants from Fukushima].
Nanka Miyagi Kenjinkai Collection
Digital items not available yet.
Materials used for Nanka Miyagi Kenjinkai 100th anniversary book, including biographical files for individuals from Miyagi, Japan, and reproduction photographs.
Natsumeda Family Granada Camp Collection
This collection includes a Buddhist Sunday service program and a Granada incarceration camp directory.
Ninomiya Studio Collection
This collection contains 30 linear feet of photographs from the Ninomiya Photography Studio that was located in the Little Tokyo district of downtown Los Angeles, California. Consisting of both prints and negatives, this collection contains images that document Japanese American communities in the aftermath of World War II. Images include: family and individual portraits, passport photographs, images of the architecture of Los Angeles and Little Tokyo including cityscapes and the surrounding landscapes, images of parades in Little Tokyo, community groups and activities such as conventions and meetings, Nisei Week, images of members of the military, church and Buddhist temple groups, beauty queen contestants, women in traditional Japanese clothing, sporting events such as judo, and images taken at weddings and funerals. Also included are copy negatives of older photographs from the pre-war era in Los Angeles, scenes capturing businesses in Little Tokyo, and businessmen having discussions.
Misao okada’s Album
Misao Okada’s scrapbook contains photographs, ephemera, notes, and correspondence documenting her time at Amache and a visit and reunion over 50 years later. The scrapbook also includes materials relating to reparations and events observing Japanese American incarceration.
Toshio Oku Photo Album
The Toshio Oku photo album comprises a collection of photographs that primarily documents the life of Toshio Oku while he, his father, Naojiro Henry, mother, Misao, and sister, Hideko Louise, were incarcerated at Tule Lake Incarceration Camp in Northern California during World War II.
James H. Osborne Nisei Collection
The James H. Osborne Nisei Collection contains mostly correspondence between Emiko and Usami Terada, incarcerees in the Rohwer incarceration camp, McGehee Arkansas, the Thomas family in Lawndale, California and some photographs of the Teradas and the Thomases. The letters describe the trip from the Santa Anita temporary detention facility to the Rohwer incarceration camp, their lives and conditions in the camp, and their concerns about their properties in Lawndale, California. Also included are photographs taken in the camp, fliers published during wartime, holiday and sympathy cards from the Terada and Nakawaki families to the Thomas family, clippings regarding Japanese American incarceration, and other documents.
Pasadena buddhist Temple Photographs
This collection contains photographs and panoramic photographs of the Pasadena Buddhist Temple and members of the church’s congregation. Also included are photographs at different Buddhist churches, conferences, and anniversary events around California.
Rancho San Pedro Collection
Although the Rancho San Pedro was initially devoted solely to ranching, the various companies of the Dominguez heirs later diversified to include nurseries, real estate, and water management. In addition to these other business ventures, tenant farming remained a vital part of Rancho San Pedro life throughout the first half of the century. A large number of these tenant farmers on Rancho lands were of Japanese or Chinese descent. Beginning with the California Alien Land Act of 1913 through the mass removal of people of Japanese descent during World War II, these tenants faced laws restricting where they lived and their right to lease land. Tenants and the Rancho landlords took a number of actions in response to these legal issues including gathering birth certificates or other documents to prove tenants’ American citizenship and writing letters of recommendation on tenants’ behalf to War Relocation Boards.
Jim and Eric Saito Family Collection
The Jim and Eric Saito family collection (1890-2017, bulk 1936-1990) includes a wide array of materials, such as immigration documents, Tanjiro Saito’s materials concerning his business ventures and memoirs, Japanese citizenship renunciation papers, Saito and Ogawa family trees and records, loose photographs, copies of photographs and photo albums, letters written to friends and family in English and Japanese, Amache/Granada, Heart Mountain and Tule Lake Incarceration Camp materials, Amache/Granada and Heart Mountain reunion materials, World War II 442nd Infantry Regiment materials, Frank and Sueo Saito’s track and field sports career materials, junior high and high school yearbooks, James A. Foshay Junior High School, Manual Arts High School, and John H. Francis Polytechnic High School materials, redress materials, newspapers, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, festival and sports programs, memo and account books, and more.
SAKIMOTO FAMILY PAPERS
The Sakimoto Family papers contains correspondence, greeting cards, photographs, poems, booklets, and other material related to the Poston incarceration camp and Japanese Americans residing in California. The other photographs in the collection are related to a Japan tour group.
SANTA MONICA NIKKEI HALL RECORDS
This collection includes organizational documents, correspondence, photographs, and realia from the Santa Monica Nikkei Hall, an organization that was located in Santa Monica, California. The Hall was constructed in 1957 and served the local Japanese American (Nikkei) community over a period of 60 years.
Shimazu family Photographs
The Shimazu Family Photographs consist of mainly photographs taken in the Jerome incarceration camp, Arkansas, including barracks and facilities, which depict the living conditions of the camp. Included is also one newspaper clipping featuring General Joseph W. Stilwell’s visit to a war bereaved family. All items were collected by a student of a history class taught by Professor Donald Teruo Hata at CSU Dominguez Hills. The student conducted interviews with Mrs. Shizuka Shimazu and Mr. Benjamin Shimazu, who experienced the forced evacuation and incarceration in the Jerome camp during World War II. Titles of photographs are derived from an appendix included in a term paper submitted by the student. All items originally belonged to the Donald Teruo Hata and Nadine Ishitani Hata Asian Pacific Studies Collection.
Southern California Gardeners Federation Records
Sumi Family Manzanar Photographs
The Sumi Family Manzanar Photographs include two digitized photographs from the Sumi family, who lived at the Manzanar incarceration camp during World War II.
owen M. Sylvester tule Lake Photographs
This collection contains one box of photographic images taken by Captain Owen M. Sylvester while at Tule Lake Segregation Center during a military occupation as a member of the 772 Military Police Battalion in 1943. Materials include: 32 black-and-white photographs.
YONEGUMA TAKAHASHI PHOTO ALBUM
This collection includes one photograph album compiled by Shigeo “Johnny” Takahashi, Yoneguma Takahashi’s younger brother. It contains family portraits, military photographs from Japan, Korea, and China, and photographs of Yoneguma’s fruit stand in San Pedro, California.
TAKAHASHI FAMILY PAPERS
The Takahashi Family Papers comprise of photographs from a family photo album, correspondence between the immediate Takahashi family, correspondence between Florence Griffen and her mother-in-law, Lois Griffen, transcripts of the correspondence, Yae Takahashi’s original artwork, Dorothy Treakle’s school report cards, Florence’s short autobiography, newspaper clippings, church and Peace Corps papers, Poston incarceration camp Christmas cards, and more.
HIDEYUKI AND BETTY (TANJI) TAKAMORI FAMILY PAPERS
The Hideyuki and Betty (Tanji) Takamori Collection contains photographs, correspondence, and official documents related to the Hideyuki and Betty (Tanji) Takamori. Images in the collection include family photographs from the United States and Japan, travel photographs from Las Vegas, Santa Monica, Disneyland, San Francisco, and Hawaii, graduation photographs of young women from the Fashion Center, and other photographs related to the lives of the Takamori family.
Takano family papers
This collection contains materials from members of the Takano family in Los Angeles, California, including Issei immigrants, Itsuhei and Tomoye Takano and Kumaji and Tsuruno Meguro, and their Nisei children, Fumio Fred and Yoneko (Meguro) Takano. The papers cover from prewar through post-war, including the period of the mass removal and incarceration during WWII and the Redress Movement in the 1980s.
Itsuhei Takano Camp Journal
Gingo Tanaka Papers
The Gingo Tanaka Papers features materials from 1944, such as three Gila News-Courier newspapers, a postcard, and a booklet titled Second Year at Gila, that once belonged to former Gila River incarceration camp internee, Gingo Tanaka.
terminal Island / Port of Los Angeles Collection
This collection contains over 400 black-and-white negatives and photographic prints of Terminal Island, Port of Los Angeles, San Pedro, Port Hueneme, and Catalina Island, taken between 1938 and 1947. Photographs include businesses, residences, airports, warehouses, coastlines, railroads, and neighborhoods. Many of the homes and businesses on Terminal Island were empty at the time of the photographs. This is the short period of time between the forced removal of the residents and the tearing down of the settlement.
paul junji toshima collection
Digital items not available yet.
The Paul Junji Toshima collection consists of four photograph albums primarily related to the Korean War and a painting of an incarceration camp.
UDO AND SASASHIMA FAMILY PAPERS
Digital items not available yet.
This collection contains kensho mawashi (sumo ceremonial belt), wooden bird pins, books, and photographs. Photographs in the collection include images of sumo wrestlers, sumo wrestling tournaments and events, photographs from Los Angeles, and family photographs in the United States and Japan.
Usui Family Papers
The Usui Family Papers consist of documents pertaining to the family’s experiences of the forced removal and incarceration during World War II. The Usui Family was incarcerated in the Tule Lake camp, California, and transferred to the Minidoka camp, Idaho. Included are correspondence, gate passes, receipts, a census conducted among Issei incarcerees, student report cards, lists of transfers from Tule Lake to Minidoka, a directory of the incarcerees in the Minidoka camp, and publications. All items originally belonged to the Donald Teruo Hata and Nadine Ishitani Hata Asian Pacific Studies Collection.
Chris S. Uyemura Manzanar Photograph Collection
The Chris S. Uyemura Papers consist of a pictorial essay, “Manzanar, a photographic essay,” and additional loose photos, which were compiled and collected by Chris S. Uyemura. The essay contains photographs, texts, and newspaper clippings, and was submitted to Professor Donald T. Hata of the Department of History at CSU Dominguez Hills. The collection depicts the incarceration of people of Japanese ancestry in the Manzanar camp during World War II as well as reflects the events, contrasting with photographs of the Manzanar National Historic Site, which illustrates what is left of the camp today. The collection was originally named as “Asian Pacific Studies Collection Box 14.”
Wada Family Photographs
The Wada Family Photographs feature a panorama of a third-grade class from Lawndale School in 1937, as well as nine other pre-World War II images of primarily the Wada family.
tomoji wada family papers
Tomoji Wada was an interpreter, bookkeeper, operator of a grocery store, and manufacturer of tofu and mochi in Terminal Island, California prior to World War II. He established a tofu manufacturing plant in the Poston camp, Arizona during the war, and became a gardener after returning from the incarceration camp to Los Angeles, California. The collection consists of receipts, ledgers, taxes, correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, journals, guidebooks, immigration materials, and incarceration camp records pertaining to Tomoji Wada and his family.
Kiyoshi Uyekawa Tule Lake Camp Collection
The collection comprises of Tule Lake newsletters and bulletins, materials issued by the Pro-Japanese group, Sokoku Hoshidan (or Hoshi Dan), WRA publications, and incarceration documents that mostly belonged to Kiyoshi and Mitsuye Uyekawa. There are also Kiyoshi’s manuscripts of original fictional works, copies of fictional works by Japanese authors, and correspondence, bulletins, and manuscripts by the haiku society members.
kiyoko maeda yoshioka photographs
Finding Aid
Fresno State’s collection consists of “e-collections” as well as physical materials. The digitized collections consist of oral histories of citizens of the San Joaquin Valley, photographs, publications and documents relating to incarceration. It also includes the Violet Kazue de Cristoforo Papers relating to a Japanese American poet who was incarcerated at Tule Lake. The collection includes her haikus written at the segregation center as well as other writings and materials related to the Redress Movement.
walter E. pollock papers
Walter E. Pollock was the head of the service division at the Fresno Assembly Center. He was deeply affected by his time working at the center and started a memoir of his experiences there, but unfortunately passed away before it could be completed. The collection contains his research and draft chapters.
Includes records, architectural drawings and other materials relating to the Fresno Assembly Center.
violet kazue cristoforo papers
The papers of a Japanese American poet who was incarcerated at the Tule Lake Segregation Center. The collection includes her haikus written at the segregation center as well as other writings such as “A Victim of a Tule Lake Anthropologist.” Documents related to the Redress Movement and de Cristoforo’s activism are also available as are items related to her 2007 National Heritage Fellowship award from the National Endowment for the Arts along with personal and family information.
jacl-ccdc japanese american oral history collection, 1998-2005
A collection of 36 videotaped interviews with Japanese Americans (primarily Nisei) in the San Joaquin Valley. Funded by the Japanese Americans Citizens League, the oral histories were initiated by the late Izumi Taniguchi, a retired professor of Economics at California State University, Fresno. The JACL-CCDC oral histories can be accessed online through the San Joaquin Valley Japanese Americans in World War II e-collection.
japanese americans in World War II Collection, 1920-1995
Newsletters produced in the WWII War Relocation Authority camps, pamphlets, newspapers, and photographs relating the experiences of Japanese American incarcerees during World War II, especially in the San Joaquin Valley. Also includes documents issued by the U.S. government declaring the official stance. The Japanese Americans in World War II photographs and some of the newsletters can be accessed online through the San Joaquin Valley Japanese Americans in World War II e-collection.
success through perseverance
A Japanese American oral history project undertaken in 1979-1980, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, archived at the Fresno County Public Library. Transcripts of 100 oral histories.
tomo foundation collection
The Japanese American History Collection at the Center for Oral and Public History began with individuals residing in Orange County, California, who, for the most part, were of Japanese ancestry and had been incarcerated during the war in the Poston War Relocation Center in southwestern Arizona. More importantly, project members generated seventy-three new interviews, and these taped recollections encompass the mass removal experiences of Japanese Americans and non-Japanese Americans from all over California, though particularly from the Los Angeles area, representing one of the main pre-war residential, commercial, and cultural centers of the Japanese American community.
In addition to addressing the situations prevalent for incarcerees at the nine other War Relocation Authority camps apart from Poston, Manzanar, in eastern California, that housed primarily evacuees from Los Angeles County is well represented. These interviews embrace the reminiscences of: 1) Japanese Americans who had been detained temporarily in many of the fifteen assembly centers managed by the Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA); resident Japanese aliens deemed “potentially dangerous” who were interned in one or more of the several centers administered by the United States Department of Justice; 3) children and grandchildren of the evacuees capitalizing upon the symbolic meaning of the “evacuation” as activists in contemporary movements of ethnic consciousness-cum-cultural politics; 4) Caucasians who had been employed by the WRA as camp administrators; and 5) non-Japanese residents of the small communities in the regions close to the sites of the former California WRA camps of Manzanar and Tule Lake. The latter was located near the Oregon border and converted during the war from a regular WRA camp into a segregation center for Japanese Americans deemed “disloyal.”
Since its inception, the project has grown to more than 250 discrete oral histories. COPH’s Japanese American collections have been some of the most frequently used materials by local and international scholars. It’s one of the leading resources for educators, students, researchers, and the general public to learn firsthand about the local and regional Japanese American experience.
children’s village at manzanar
The Children’s Village at Manzanar Oral History Project features oral histories with narrators who talk about their lives, pre- and post-World War II, but most specifically, about their experience at the Children’s Village orphanage at Manzanar.
the japanese american oral history project collection
japanese-american relocation collection
oral history from south bay / los angeles nisei
monterey peninsula japanese american citizens league collection
Materials feature the records of the Monterey Peninsula chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League, including correspondence, meeting minutes, scrapbooks, and event planning materials. It also includes documentation of the history of Japanese Americans in Monterey and WWII incarceration camps including photographs of sports teams and other groups at Tule Lake.
The collections at CSUN document incarceration through the War Relocation Authority (reports and memoranda) and relief or support groups for Japanese Americans during World War II. Collections include WRA camp newsletters, camp publications and activity publications (usually mimeographed) and the papers of Eddie Muraoaka, who was incarcerated at Manzanar. Muraoaka’s collection includes scrapbooks and other materials. The Reverend Wendell L. Miller Collection contains letters from Japanese Americans in camps during World War II.
heart mountain relocation center collection
The Heart Mountain War Relocation Center was built during the summer of 1942 and received its first contingent of Japanese Americans on August 12, 1942. It is located in Park County, northwestern Wyoming. The collection contains Community Camp Council meeting minutes, camp laws, correspondence, the case of People of Heart Mountain vs. Tom Yamada, and other documents.
japanese americans in the san fernando valley oral history project collection
These 24 oral histories document the lives of Japanese Americans who lived, or are currently living, in the San Fernando Valley. The participants are multi-generational, with many who experienced incarceration firsthand and prejudice during World War II. The narrators also shared stories of farming, family emigration from Japan, and the building of their lives and families in the San Fernando Valley, both before and after the war.
japanese american relocation center newspapers
During the incarceration of the Japanese Americans from 1942 to 1945, newspapers recording camp activities and providing news of events outside the camps were issued by the incarcerees from the beginning of their confinement in temporary assembly centers to permanent War Relocation Authority centers. This collection of newsletters consists of nineteen titles from nine different camps.
japanese american internment camp materials
The collection includes materials created at Japanese-American incarceration camps during World War II. Collection contents were independently written and distributed by inmates, and include information about camp newspapers, camp stores, school publications, and other camp activities. Documents may have been reviewed and censored by the War Relocation Authority. Newspapers from outside the camps, which regularly reported on the camps and internment are also included.
eddie s. muraoka collection
Eddie S. Muraoka was interned during the Second World War at Manzanar War Relocation Authority Camp in Manzanar, CA. The collection includes scrapbooks filled with news clippings on the Japanese-American incarceration, dated 1942-1980s. It also includes loose issues of the newspapers Pacific Citizen, Kashu Mainichi, Rafu Shimpo, and Maui Kanyaku Imin (Centennial Edition).
relief and support groups for japanese americans during world war ii collection
Many non-governmental groups sought redress for the Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II. This collection contains reports, correspondence, publicity, and other documents issued by the Committee on Resettlement of Japanese Americans, National Japanese American Student Relocation Council, Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play, YMCA, American Friends Service Committee, and Japanese American Citizens League. These groups sought to provide relief and support for incarcerated Japanese Americans.
war relocation authority collection
The War Relocation Authority was created on March 18, 1942, by Executive Order of the President, No. 9102. This new civilian agency was to be responsible for “the relocation (of evacuees) in appropriate places, providing for their needs in such manner as may be appropriate, and supervising their activities.” The collection consists of reports, memoranda, news clippings, news digests, statistics, and other documents issued by the WRA leading up to, during, and following the period of Japanese incarceration.
reverend wendell l. miller collection
Reverend Wendell L. Miller was pastor of the University Methodist Church, Los Angeles. He became involved in local politics when gambling and prostitution began edging toward the area surrounding the University of Southern California (USC) campus. Miller founded the Citizens Independent Vice Investigating Committee (C.I.V.I.C.), which also campaigned against crime and corruption in City Hall, ultimately resulting in the recall of Mayor Frank L. Shaw. The collection includes a small amount of material documenting Reverend Miller’s anti-war activities, especially letters from Japanese Americans sent to incarceration camps during World War II.
world war ii japanese american publications microfilm: link press (march/jun 1942)
The John M. Pfau Library’s Special Collections & University Archives houses a significant collection of camp newspapers, posters, and other related materials. Library holdings also include over 100 reels of microfilm from the National Archives which contain reproductions of newspapers, War Relocation Authority items, and other materials.
nisaburo Aibara Collection
Photographs, documents and the papers of prominent journalist Carey McWilliams that relate to the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans. McWilliams was one of the first journalists to cover the camps. Also includes the Iwanaga Papers, Koike Papers, Kruska Collection, Tamura Papers and Yamano Collection.
honnold / mudd specials collections
This collection includes War Relocation Authority documents and other related materials documenting Japanese American incarceration during World War II.
george s. iwanaga papers
A collection of 33 original photographs taken by George S. (Shinichi) Iwanaga (1921-2012) at the incarceration camp at Heart Mountain, Wyoming. The black and white images depict the people of the camp, their living quarters, and daily life. The Heart Mountain War Relocation Authority camp opened in June 1942 and closed on November 10, 1945. Iwanaga, born in Fresno, was a 21-year-old Los Angeles resident of Japanese descent, who never visited Japan and had completed two years of college. He lived for two years at Heart Mountain before being released in August 1944.
kenzo robert koike papers
Kenzo R. Koike was a Japanese American born in 1920 in Seattle, Washington. At the age of 12, his family moved to Los Angeles, where he attended middle school, high school, and college. In 1942, the Koike family was removed from their Los Angeles home and sent to Heart Mountain incarceration camp in Wyoming. By 1943, Kenzo Koike was drafted into the United States Army, where he served as a translator in Japan from 1945 to 1946. This collection includes documents and photographs from Koike’s youth in Seattle and Los Angeles, including diplomas, year books, and registration cards. It also contains military documents and photographs from Koike’s time in Japan, depicting bombings after World War II, traditional Japanese dress, and Koike’s relatives. In addition, a garrison hat and an aviator hat from the war are in this collection along with postcards of barracks in Fort Sheridan and correspondence with Koike’s peers in Seattle.
kruska japanese internment collection
Dennis G. “Denny” Kruska, a graduate of University of California, Los Angeles, Hughes Aircraft physicist, venture capitalist researcher, printing consultant, historical author and bibliographer and collector of Yosemite and Sierra Nevada materials amassed this collection of Japanese American incarceration items. The collection covers a wide variety of materials, ranging from 1905 to 2013 which are arranged into six series, with like materials, including newspapers and clippings, photographs, postal materials, printed matter, realia, and research material.
yamano japanese internment collection
The Yamano Japanese Internment Collection contains materials pertaining to the life of Japanese Americans before, during, and after World War II. Many of the objects in the collection document their time in incarceration facilities. Sakae and Matsuzo Yamano emigrated from Japan to California in the 1920s and 1930s. They were incarcerated at the Granada camp and the Tule Lake camp during World War II and remained incarcerated until 1946. The collection contains photographs of family and friends, documents from incarceration facilities, and family portraits.
war relocation authority records
bishop james Chamberlain Baker Collection
merritt photo collection
Documents and photographs relating to individuals at Manzanar War Relocation Authority camp, especially those of the Manzanar Superintendent Ralph Merritt and others (1940-1950). Merritt’s photographs contain extensive photographic evidence of the Manzanar WRA camp from the point of view of Merritt, but also document life and the surrounding landscape with individual and group portraits of those in the camp. Includes more than 350 images.
Harry bentley wells and shirley elizabeth wells collection
This organization is dedicated to the story of Japanese American World War II Veterans and holds archival material and over 1200 oral histories. Scrapbooks relating to the Japanese American soldiers during World War II as well as their family members in the incarceration camps have been digitized.
Sue kato collection
The Historical Society of Long Beach includes oral histories, photographs, and other archival items documenting Japanese American life in Long Beach, California and neighboring Terminal Island, where a Japanese American fishing village was eliminated as a result of the WWII incarceration, 1942-1990. Also includes several images of Japanese Americans being removed from Long Beach in the Joseph Resinger Collection.
Ishii Collection
The Ishii Collection features images and documents relating to the Ishii family, Frank Toru Ishii and Hisa Fujii Ishii, donated by daughters Frances Ishii Lyon and Kiyo Anne Fujimoto.
long beach and pearl harbor collection
The Long Beach and Pearl Harbor collection consists of materials collected and/or created during the Historical Society of Long Beach exhibition, “Long Beach Remembers Pearl Harbor.” Materials include documents, correspondence, photographs, and video recordings.
Newspaper Photograph Collection
The Newspaper Photograph Collection is made up of photographs that were printed in the Long Beach Press-Telegram and Independent newspapers, between the 1950s and early 2000s. The digitized collection includes newspaper clippings and photographs primarily from incarceration camps and assembly centers.
oral history collection
The Oral History Collection at the Historical Society of Long Beach is a living collection, growing with each new recording the HSLB produces. The collection includes recordings with members of local politics, the LGBTQ community, and various community members. The digitized collection includes one oral history recording with Frances Ishii Lyon and Kiyo Anne Fujimoto.
risinger photograph collection
fuchita family collection
japanese american archival collection
A collection of small collections (over 200 donations), mainly from private individuals from the Sacramento region. The collection’s strength is in the local history revealed of families and individuals affected by the WWII incarceration as well as the details of life in the WRA camps through photographs, arts and crafts, letters, government documents, etc. The collection contains archival documentation that provides useful insights into the human experience of the camps. There is also an oral history collection that complements the archival sources and includes interviews with many of those who donated collections. There is an interesting combination of documentation across the collections, in part generated by Japanese Americans in the WRA camps, as well as employees of the government in the camps who served as educators and medical personnel. Particularly interesting components of the collection are the files of a high school principal at the Poston camp and there is also a remarkable scrapbook by a public health nurse that documents life at the Crystal City camp.
nikuyo morimoto nakatani papers
japanese history collection
marguerite archer collection of historic children’s materials
Marguerite Archer Collection of Historic Children’s Materials contains approximately 3,500 historical children’s books, textbooks, periodicals, ephemera, and realia, including puzzles, toys and educational games. The collection, originally based upon the Peter Parley to Penrod Bibliography, is considered to be a major scholarly resource showing the progressive development and growth of American children’s literature from the 1820s to the 1920s, and includes many original editions of literary classics, as well as early textbooks and related teaching aids. The digitized collection includes one correspondence album with photographs from Poston I High School Junior Red Cross.
san Francisco bay area television archive
Established in 1982, the TV Archive preserves 6,000 hours of news-film, documentaries and other TV footage produced in the Bay Area and Northern California from the Twentieth Century. It is a part of the J. Paul Leonard Library’s Department of Special Collections, which oversees material owned by local TV stations KPIX-TV, KRON-TV, KQED and KTVU. The Bay Area TV Archive’s digitization projects are supported in whole or in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. The digitized collection includes six news reports from the KPIX and KRON related to World War II incarceration camps.
university archives, j. paul leonard library, san francisco State university
The collections focused on Japanese American history at San Jose State consist of the Flaherty and Willard E. Schmidt Papers. The Flaherty Japanese Internment Collection consists of documents and photographs relating to the Western Defense Command, the War Relocation Authority and the Wartime Civilian Control Administration for the year 1942 mostly generated by Colonel Hugh T. Fullerton of the Western Defense Command. The collection includes administrative policies, orders, manuals, correspondence, statistics, posters, photographs and newspaper clippings. Another collection includes letters from prisoners inquiring why they were in the camp stockade to Willard Schmidt, the Chief of Internal Security for the WRA and the Tule Lake Incarceration/Segregation Camp.
john m. flaherty collection of japanese internment records
This collection consists of documents, and photographs relating to the establishment and administrative workings of the Western Defense Command, the War Relocation Authority and the Wartime Civilian Control Administration for the year 1942. It includes administrative policies, orders, manuals, correspondence, statistics, posters, photographs and newspaper clippings. The bulk of this collection documents the activities of 1942, but materials in series IV cover other time periods. The WRA, together with the WCCA, the Civil Affairs Division and the Office of the Commanding General of the WDC operated together to segregate and house some 110,000 men, women and children from 1942 to 1945.
willard e. schmidt papers
california folklore miscellany
The California Folklore Miscellany collection is comprised of material documenting various aspects of North Bay history, with a focus on beliefs, folkways, folk speech, historical characters, legends, pioneer stories and children’s lore. The majority of the materials were gathered from folklore classes taught by Dr. Hector Lee at Sonoma State University. The digitized collection includes one essay with interviews from five Japanese Americans.
north bay ethnic archive collection
The North Bay Ethnic Archive features material related to the mass removal of northern San Francisco Bay Area residents to the incarceration camp at Granada (Amache), Colorado. It includes correspondence, photographs, and reports. Some of the original items are housed with the Sonoma County Japanese Americans Citizens League (JACL) and were borrowed for digitization courtesy of the JACL. The remainder are housed in Special Collections.
Gaye Lebaron collection
topaz high school newspapers in the ronald “tubby” yoshida collection
robert billigmeier collections
The Robert Billigmeier Collection is comprised of materials collected during his work and stay at the Tule Lake incarceration camp conducting research for the University of California’s Japanese Evacuation and Resettlement Study (JERS). The collection includes photographs taken during his time at Tule Lake; a scrapbook created by students at Tule Lake in 1942; camp publications; reports and manuscripts; and student writings. Several of the reports and manuscripts draw from the personality cards written by students in the Tule Lake incarceration camp.
frank chin papers
These materials are from box 73 and 74 of the Frank Chin Papers. The Frank Chin Papers contain personal and professional correspondence between Frank Chin and Michi Weglyn relating to particular projects on which either author was working as well as files related to the Day of Remembrance Tribute to Michi Weglyn.
japanese in america collection
Finding Aid
first friends church photographs and records
The collection consists of images and documents from the church’s establishment in 1887 to the mid-20th century. Also included are images and documents of two missions of Whittier’s First Friends Church: the Kotzebue Friends Church, in Kotzebue, Alaska; and the Friends Japanese Church in Norwalk, formerly located near the intersection of Orange Street and Rosecrans Avenue.