Acquisition
Access
Copyright
Biographical / Historical
Scope and Contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections Research Center
Title: JACL-CCDC Japanese American Oral History Collection
Identifier/Call Number: MSS.1011
Physical Description:
1.1 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): 1998-2005
Abstract: A collection of 36 videotaped interviews with Japanese Americans (primarily Nisei) in the San Joaquin Valley. Funded by the
Japanese Americans Citizens League (JACL), the oral histories were initiated by the late Izumi Taniguchi, a retired professor
of Economics at California State University, Fresno.
Acquisition
The collection was donated by the Central California District Council of the Japanese American Citizens League in 2003.
Access
The collection is open for research.
Copyright
Copyright has been transferred to California State University, Fresno.
Biographical / Historical
In 1998, Izumi Taniguchi, a retired professor of Economics at California State University, Fresno, wrote a grant to begin
an oral history project with Japanese Americans in the San Joaquin Valley. This grant was funded by the Japanese American
Citizens League (JACL) and allowed the group to purchase a video camera and get some training in how to conduct oral histories.
The San Joaquin Valley Japanese American History Project, as it was named by Taniguchi, was later sponsored by the Asian American
Studies Program in the School of Social Sciences at California State University, Fresno. The purpose of the project was to
document "the history and contributions of Japanese Americans and their organizations in the San Joaquin Valley, [the] state,
and the country" (Box 1, Release agreement, undated). Volunteer interviewers from the Fresno Chapter and the Central California
District Council of the JACL videotaped interviews with Japanese Americans, primarily the Nisei (second generation) from Merced
County to Kern County to make them available for research and other scholarly purposes. Izumi Taniguchi and Grace Kimoto
of the Livingston-Merced Chapter of the JACL took a lead role in the keeping the project going although the goal was always
to have people in every JACL chapter in the Central Valley take an active role in conducting interviews.
Izumi Taniguchi passed away in 2001. To honor his memory, the oral history project became the Izumi Taniguchi Oral History
Program. Some additional funding from the California State Library's California Civil Liberties Public Education Program
(CCLPEP) allowed the group to record several more oral histories and convert all of the interviews to a digital format on
DVDs between June 2004 and June 2005.
Scope and Contents
The JACL-CCDC Japanese American Oral History collection measures 5 linear inches and dates from 1999 to 2005. The collection
primarily contains videotaped interviews and transcripts. Supporting documents within the collection include a copy of the
release agreement required of each interviewee, list of interviews, and Polaroid photographs. The photographs were taken of
seven interview subjects, Martha Kajiwara, Tadashi Kanemoto, Sherman Kishi, Lloyd Kurihara, Sam Maeda, Robert Ohki and Robert
Yano. Each photograph is labeled.