Japanese American History Press Photographs Documenting Immigration, Internment and Postwar Lives in the United States 1918–1990s

Japanese-American identity

Archive

Japanese American communities photographed across the twentieth century document the transformation of Japanese American identity from immigrant settlement and economic success to wartime incarceration and later postwar memory. Eleven press photographs dating from 1918 through the late twentieth century depict Japanese immigrants, Japanese American families, and individuals whose lives were shaped by the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. The images trace a historical arc beginning with early immigrant life and professional success in California, continuing through wartime detention at assembly centers, and concluding with portraits of former internees reflecting on the experience decades later.

Archive of eleven black and white silver gelatin press photographs measuring approximately 6 x 8 inches to 8 x 10 inches. Three photographs date from the period before World War II, including a 1918 image of three Japanese immigrants in Los Angeles raising drinks toward the camera and a 1931 photograph of two girls in traditional dress associated with a chrysanthemum cultivation family connected to the development of the chrysanthemum industry in Redwood City, California and its “Kiku Matsuri” festival. Another prewar image shows two Japanese American nurses accompanied by two men, possibly physicians, seated before a Packard automobile. Several wartime photographs depict barracks associated with the Fresno Assembly Center, identified through stamps on the versos. One 1943 photograph shows Mrs. Yoshiye Abe, identified as a Nisei woman who had been relocated from Fresno through the Santa Anita Assembly Center and later worked in Denver, stitching an American flag at a flag factory. Additional images show converted horse stables used as temporary housing for displaced Japanese Americans during the early phase of wartime incarceration. Later press photographs portray former internees reflecting on their experiences, including Allen Hida sharing photographs from camp years, Dr. Lawrence Yatsu photographed in a laboratory setting, and Yoshimi Yamamoto identified in a caption referencing incarceration in an American wartime camp.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the United States government forcibly removed more than 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast under the authority of Executive Order 9066. Many families were first confined in temporary assembly centers such as the Fresno Assembly Center before being transferred to longer term camps including Manzanar and Tule Lake. The photographs in this archive juxtapose images of early twentieth century immigrant achievement with wartime displacement and later reflections on incarceration by Japanese Americans who experienced the camps as children or young adults. As a group the images illustrate the shifting social and political status of Japanese Americans during the twentieth century and the enduring legacy of wartime civil liberties violations. Eleven press photographs measuring approximately 6 x 8 inches to 8 x 10 inches. Minor handling wear typical of press photographs with captions and agency markings on versos. Overall condition very good.

Item #20695

Price: $1,400.00