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INVENTORY OF THE ASIAN PACIFIC STUDIES COLLECTION,
1920-1993
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Table of contents
Title: The Asian Pacific Studies Collection
Dates: 1920-1993
Collection Number: Consult repository.
Collector:
Hata, Donald Teruo, 1934-
Extent:
18 boxes
12 linear ft
Repository: California State University, Dominguez Hills
Archives and Special Collections
Archives & Special Collection
University Library, Room G-145
1000 E. Victoria Street
Carson, California 90747
Phone: (310) 243-3013
URL: http://archives.csudh.edu/
Abstract:
The focus of the Asian Pacific Studies Collection is Japanese American evacuation and internment during World War II. This
includes photographs, posters, newspapers, class reports, syllabi, and other materials about Japanese-American life in Los
Angeles before World War II, evacuation, internment, and life following release from the camps. Materials were collected by
a professor of history at CSUDH.
Language: Collection material is in English
There are no access restrictions on this collection.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Archives
and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of 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.
[Title of item], The Asian Pacific Studies Collection, Courtesy of the Department of Archives and Special Collections. University
Library. California State University, Dominguez Hills
The materials were donated to the University Archives by Dr. Donald Teruo Hata, Professor of History at California State University
Dominguez Hills.
The collection was processed during the Fall of 1998 by Traci Liley. Re-processing completed in 2006.
This finding aid was created as part of Early Los Angeles/Rancho San Pedro Manuscript Cataloging Project, a CSU Dominguez
Hills Library project funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The project started in 2005.
Project Director was Greg Williams. Project Archivists were Thomas Philo and Jennifer Allan Goldman.
The history of the Japanese in the United States began with Commodore Perry's gunboat diplomacy policy in 1868. The first
small numbers of Japanese came to the West Coast in 1869. Larger groups did not begin arriving on the West Coast until after
the Exclusion Act of 1882, which completely stopped the immigration of Chinese laborers. The Japanese workers were brought
in as replacements to work on the railroads and mines. With the California Alien Land Laws of 1913 and 1924, all Asian immigrants
were ineligible for citizenship and could not legally own or lease land. By 1925, twelve other states enacted similar legislation.
Even with the restrictions imposed upon them, many Japanese communities continued to thrive. After Japanese planes bombed
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in December 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed Japanese, German, and Italian citizens residing
on American soil to be "alien enemies" (Presidential Proclamations 2525, 2526, and 2527). On February 19, 1942, President
Roosevelt signed Executive Order #9066, formally authorizing the Secretary of War to prescribe "military areas" from which
alien enemies would be excluded and to provide "transportation, food, shelter, and other accommodations" for excluded residents
of these areas. With this Order, the Japanese were forced to evacuate the West Coast. A few simply moved eastward with friends
or family. The majority, citizens and aliens alike, were moved to "assembly centers," which were built in Merced, Portland,
Pinedale, Fresno, Sacramento, and at the Santa Anita racetrack. From these centers, evacuees were transferred to government-run
internment camps. There were ten main internment camps: Amache, Gila River, Poston, Manzanar, Topaz, Heart Mountain, Minidoka,
Tule Lake, Jerome, and Rohwer. There were also smaller more restrictive camps designed for evacuees considered dangerous.
Most German and Italian "alien enemies" were not subject to this order, though those deemed security risks were moved to internment
camps.
The majority of the people confined to the camps stayed for the duration of the war. During 1944, some were allowed special
passes to take jobs anywhere except in the restricted zones of the West Coast. For the most part, the residents of the camps
tried to live as normally as possible. Many were employed at camp businesses, played on sports teams, and went to camp schools.
Some of the young men born in the United States joined the 442nd Regimental Battalion, the most decorated unit in the history
of the United States. In January 1945, the exclusion order was rescinded and internees were allowed to return to the exclusion
area. The last camp was closed in 1948. The United States government, through the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, formally apologized
to the survivors of the internment camps and began to provide reparation checks of $20,000 to each survivor. In 1992, the
camp at Manzanar was designated a National Historic Site and is currently open to the public.
The collection contains newsletters, statements, speeches, articles, camp directories, newspapers, magazines, personal documents,
photographs and artifacts. The material was accumulated by Dr. Hata for research projects and publications. The majority
of the material is focused on the evacuation and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. However, there are
also photographs of the Chinese in Los Angeles in the 1880's and Japanese in Los Angeles at the turn of the century.
The materials were stored in boxes in Dr. Hata's office and home. Most of the materials were in very good condition. All metal
binders were removed. The materials were not in any specific order. The Okine materials were found in an abandoned farm house
on the east part of CSUDH. They were very disorganized and not well kept. All published materials are mostly in chronological
order. Photographs have been grouped by subject and dates. Miscellaneous photographs were added at the end because the subject
could not be ascertained or did not fit within an existing group.
Arrangement
Arranged in six series:
- Series I: Internment Camp Newsletters (1942-1945)
- Series II: Published Materials (1920-1993)
- Series III: Nihongo (Japanese Language) Syllabi (1943-1944)
- Series IV: Okine Materials (1944-1958)
- Series V: Photographs and Posters (1880s-1986)
- Series VI: Artifacts (circa 1942)
- Series V. Books
- Series VI. Videos
Central Utah Relocation Center
Heart Mountain Relocation Center (Wyo.)
Japanese Americans
Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945
Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945 -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945 -- Newspapers
Japanese American families
Japanese American farmers -- California.
Japanese American newspapers
Manzanar War Relocation Center
Hata, Donald Teruo, 1934-
Manzanar (Calif.)
Mochizuki Collection