The Atsushi Art Ishida Collection is comprised of about 900 photographs (prints, negatives, and 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. Most of the items in this collection have been digitized and are available online.

Atsushi Art Ishida (1921 June 2-) is a Kibei Nisei who is a U.S citizen and was educated in Japan prior to World War II. His family history in America began with immigration of his grandfather, Tamakichi Ishida, around late 1800. Tamakichi and his first son, Umeo (Atsushi's uncle), were Issei immigrants from Hiroshima, Japan and arrived in Hawaii as contract laborers. After a few years of the plantation labor contract, Tamakichi came back to Japan while Umeo moved to the mainland and settled in Fresno, California. Atsushi's father, Matsuo Ishida, left Hiroshima to join his brother, Umeo. Due to the Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907 between the U.S and Japan, Japanese immigration and emigration were restricted, but Matsuo managed to board a ship leaving Japan for South America, jumped into the ocean at Ensenada, Mexico, swam to the shore, and walked across the border to reunite his brother in Fresno. Later, Matsuo became a naturalized U.S. citizen, brought his wife, Saku, from Japan, and owned a farm in Compton, California. Atsushi was born to Matsuo and Saku as the oldest child among their four children in Fresno. Atsushi's younger brother, Takashi, was also born in Fresno, and his younger sisters, Masaye and Ruby, were born in Compton, and all grew up in Southern California. When Atsushi's uncle, Umeo, decided to retire and return to Japan, Umeo took Atsushi and Takashi to Japan for education in 1929, and the rest of the family members also returned to Japan in 1935 due to Matsuo's illness; and he passed away in Japan a year later. Atsushi and his brother attended school in Hiroshima, Japan but decided to return to California together in 1937 by a steamship, Asama Maru, while his mother and sisters remained in Japan. He and his brother joined their family friend, Mr. Hamamoto, who had been farming in Artesia, California and looked after them. Atsushi attended a high school and helped Mr. Hamamoto by farming together in Artesia until the war interrupted his life.

5 boxes (1 document box, 2 box albums, and 2 photo boxes)

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of the Gerth Archives and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Gerth Archives and Special Collections as the owner of the physical materials and not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

There are no access restrictions on this collection.