Japanese-American Collection, ca. 1900-1940s
Finding aid created by Seaver Center for Western History Research, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County staff using
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Seaver Center for Western History Research, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
2023
900 Exposition Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90007-4057
(213) 763-3359
seavercenter@nhm.org
https://nhm.org/research-collections/departments/history/seaver-center-western-history-research
Title: Japanese-American Collection, ca. 1900-1940s
Dates: (bulk ca. 1900-1940s)
Collection Number: P-018
Creator/Collector:
Mason, William M.
Extent: 3 linear feet
Repository:
Seaver Center for Western History Research, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Los Angeles, California 90007-4057
Abstract: Japanese-American families of Los Angeles and Southern California, their social life and customs, in the first half of the
twentieth century. Several documents are pictured, including a Japanese map dated circa 1796. Photographs, negatives. ca.
1796-1960, no date (bulk is ca. 1900-1940s).
Language of Material: English
Research is by appointment only
Permission to publish, quote or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder
[Identification of item]. Japanese-American Collection, ca. 1900-1940s. Collection Number: P-018. Seaver Center for Western
History Research, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Scope and Content of Collection
Japanese-American families of Los Angeles and Southern California, their social life and customs, in the first half of the
twentieth century. Several documents are pictured, including a Japanese map dated circa 1796. Photographs, negatives. ca.
1796-1960, no date (bulk is ca. 1900-1940s).
Most of the photographs originate from six families: Akita, Fujioka, Inose, Miyatake, Tani, and Tomio. Many of the images
are of Japanese Americans and the Los Angeles area in the early 1900’s including their businesses and farms. There are also
many photographs of the Japanese evacuation and relocation camps of World War II, in particular those at Manzanar (Calif.),
Santa Anita (Calif.), Gila Rivers (Ariz.), and Rohwer (Ark.). Includes a 1943 high school yearbook from Amache, Colorado.
As the collection comprises of copy prints, they appear to have derived from a number of sources. Many of them were re-printed
and used by former curator, William Mason, for publication in his The Japanese of Los Angeles (1969). The book provides useful
background information for the part of the collection dealing with that subject and also identifies many of the photographs
in greater detail.
Manzanar (Calif.)--History--Pictorial works.
Santa Anita Assembly Center (Calif.)
Gila River Relocation Center--History--Pictorial works.
Japanese Americans--California--Los Angeles--History--Pictorial works.
Granada Relocation Center--Amache (Colo.)
Akita
Fujioka
Inose
Miyatake
Tomio
Tani
Manzanar (Calif.)
Arcadia (Calif.)
Rohwer (Ark.)