CSU Japanese American History Digitization Project

The CSU Japanese American Digitization Project (CSUJAD) began in 2013 with the goal of providing scholars, librarians, archivists, educators and the interested public with far easier access to a wide variety of archival material about Japanese Americans. The project partners include: the 23-campus California State University system archives, and other, similar collections across the state.

With the help of grant funding from NEH and the National Park Service Japanese American Confinement Sites program, the CSUJAD project digitizes and describes these archival collections in order to bring these significant stories together for worldwide access and contribute to the deepening understanding of Japanese American history.

57 Collections

Collection CSU Dominguez Hills Henry Y. Ikemoto Collection (ddr-csujad-1)

Henry Y. Ikemoto Collection contains correspondence, photographs, articles, chronologies, rosters, books, booklets, programs, reunion yearbook, and album. It depicts Americans of Japanese ancestry’s military service, mainly Anti-Tank Company, 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and Military Intelligence Service. It also describes activities by organizations and reunions of Japanese American veterans and the Rohwer incarceration camp. …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-1/

Collection San Jose State Schmidt (Willard E.) Papers (ddr-csujad-2)

The Willard Schmidt collection, documents some of the administrative duties of Willard Schmidt, the Chief of Internal Security for the War Relocation Authority and the Tule Lake incarceration/segregation camp. This collection contains administrative records and photos documenting the Tule Lake camp, the largest incarceration camp with a peak population of 18,789 and with the most turbulent …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-2/

Collection CSU Dominguez Hills Toshio Oku Photo Album (ddr-csujad-3)

The photo album is a collection of Tule Lake incarceration camp photos including photos of a fire, group photo of the Electrical Department, and inside the print shop of the Newell Star. The album highlights Toshio Oku (1925-2010), the son of Naojiro Oku (1893-1979) and Misao Oku (1902-2000) who was incarcerated at Tule Lake and worked …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-3/

Collection CSU Dominguez Hills James H. Osborne Nisei Collection (ddr-csujad-4)

The James H. Osborne Nisei Collection contains mainly correspondence between Emiko and Usami Terada, incarcerees in the Rohwer incarceration camp, McGehee Arkansas, and the Thomas family in Lawndale, California and some photographs of the Teradas and the Thomases. The letters describe the trip from the Santa Anita Assembly Center to the Rohwer incarceration camp, their lives …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-4/

Collection CSU Dominguez Hills Okine Collection (ddr-csujad-5)

The Okine Collection contains materials collected by Seiichi and Tomeyo Okine who were Issei flower growers in Whittier, California. It includes correspondence, photographs, financial documents, and a photo album. A large portion of the collection consists of family correspondence with Seiichi and Tomeyo Okine, including letters from their Nisei children, Masao and Makoto Okine, both soldiers …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-5/

Collection CSU Fresno JACL-CCDC Japanese American Oral History Collection (ddr-csujad-6)

The JACL-CCDC Japanese American Oral History collection contains oral histories capturing the experience of Japanese Americans, primarily Nisei, living in the San Joaquin Valley. Topics primarily include incarceration and post-war experiences.

See complete finding aid at: http://dsc.calstate.edu/1164?r=cam

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-6/

Collection CSU Fresno Japanese Americans in World War II Collection (ddr-csujad-7)

The Japanese Americans in World War II collection contains both contemporary and contemporaneous materials about the incarceration of people of Japanese ancestry during World War II from the perspective of Japanese Americans, the United States government, and others.

See complete finding aid at: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf4n39n6th/

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-7/

Collection CSU Fresno Success Through Perseverance (ddr-csujad-8)

A Japanese American oral history project undertaken in 1979-1980, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and archived at the Fresno County Public Library.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-8/

Collection CSU Bakersfield Edwin Sasaki Oral History Collection (ddr-csujad-9)

Oral history interview of Edwin (Ed) Sasaki, a professor of the Psychology Department, conducted by the Public History Institute at California State University, Bakersfield. Professor Sasaki was born in Sacramento, California, in November 1940 and grew up in Weiser, Idaho. He recollects his family’s experiences during the World War II, being arrested as a suspect and …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-9/

Collection CSU Dominguez Hills Crystal City Peruvian Letters Collection (ddr-csujad-10)

The Crystal City Peruvian Letters Collection contains three letters written by Kiyoko and Yoshihiko Matsuura, Japanese Peruvians interned at the Crystal City Internment, Texas, to their mother/grandmother, Kiyoko Noda, who remains in Lima, Peru.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-10/

Collection CSU Dominguez Hills Tazu Kawamoto Photo Album (ddr-csujad-11)

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 …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-11/

Collection CSU Dominguez Hills Tsugitada Kanamori Collection (ddr-csujad-12)

This collection contains one box of documents belonging to Tsugitada Kanamori. Materials in this collection mostly pertain to Kanamori's efforts regarding canceling his renunciation and reinstating his American citizenship. See complete finding aid at: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8cv4pc8/

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-12/

Collection CSU Dominguez Hills Owen Sylvester Tule Lake Photo Collection (ddr-csujad-13)

The Owen M. Sylvester Photograph Collection (1942-1943, undated) contains 32 black-and-white photographs taken by Sylvester at Tule Lake. The majority of the photographs were taken inside the Tule Lake Incarceration Camp in Newell, California in November 1943 and feature scenes containing housing quarters, the stockade area, imprisoned Japanese Americans, and members of the 772nd Military Police …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-13/

Collection CSU Fresno TOMO Foundation (ddr-csujad-14)

The TOMO Foundation in Illinois donated the collection, which contains documents by and about the Japanese-American experience during World War II.

See complete finding aid at: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf896nb2n1/

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-14/

Collection CSU Northridge Eddie S. Muraoka Collection (ddr-csujad-15)

Eddie S. Muraoka was incarcerated during the Second World War at the Manzanar incarceration camp in Manzanar, California. The collection includes scrapbooks filled with news clippings on Japanese American incarceration, dated 1942-1980s. It also includes loose issues of Pacific Citizen, Kashu Mainichi, Rafu Shimpo, and Maui Kanyaku Imin (Centennial Edition).

See complete finding aid at: http://findingaids.csun.edu/archon/?p=collections/controlcard&id=8

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-15/

Collection CSU Northridge Japanese-American Internment Camp Materials (ddr-csujad-16)

The Japanese American incarceration camps during World War II were administered by the War Relocation Authority. Camp incarcerees independently wrote and distributed many of their own documents associated with the camp newspapers, camp stores, school publications, and other camp activities. This group of materials contains non-War Relocation Authority documents issued in the incarceration camps or that …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-16/

Collection CSU Northridge Japanese-American Relocation Center Newspapers (ddr-csujad-17)

During the incarceration of the Japanese Americans from 1942-1945, 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 and permanent relocation centers. This collection of newsletters consists of nineteen titles from nine different camps. See complete finding aid …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-17/

Collection CSU Northridge Relief and Support Groups for Japanese Americans During World War II Collection (ddr-csujad-18)

Many non-governmental groups sought redress for 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. …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-18/

Collection CSU Northridge War Relocation Authority Collection (ddr-csujad-19)

The War Relocation Authority (WRA) 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, …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-19/

Collection CSU Northridge Reverend Wendell L. Miller Collection (ddr-csujad-20)

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 …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-20/

Collection California Polytechnic State Smith Family Papers on World War II (ddr-csujad-21)

Papers of two generations of the Smith family, Dr. Frank Herron Smith and his son Dr. Morris Eugene “Gene” Smith, including vintage broadsides and government reports on the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II and correspondence from the elder Smith to government officials advocating for improved treatment and safety for returning incarcerees.

See complete …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-21/

Collection Sonoma State California Folklore Miscellany (ddr-csujad-22)

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. See complete finding aid at: …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-22/

Collection Sonoma State Gaye LeBaron Collection (ddr-csujad-23)

The Gaye LeBaron Collection houses the research material of newspaper columnist Gaye LeBaron, relating to the North Bay region of California. Files hold support materials for more than 8,200 newspaper columns written for The Press Democrat newspaper in Santa Rosa, California. Included are research notes, correspondence, newspaper clippings, monographs, local documents, journal issues, photographs, oral histories, …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-23/

Collection UC Santa Barbara Frank Chin Papers (ddr-csujad-24)

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.

See complete finding aid …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-24/

Collection UC Santa Barbara Japanese in America, circa early 1900s-1960s (ddr-csujad-25)

Japanese in America, circa early 1900s-1960s, boxes 7-12: The collection contains photographs and albums of the Japanese in the United States, mainly Washington, California, Colorado, and Utah. The photographs include family portraits and snapshots capturing their community activities and local events, such as picnic, wedding, funeral, local associations’ activities, etc., mostly taken in the early 1900s. …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-25/