Collection Guide
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Ishida (Atsushi Art) Collection
SPC.2019.031
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
California State University Dominguez Hills, Gerth Archives and Special Collections
Title: Atsushi Art Ishida Collection
Creator:
Ishida, Atsushi Art, 1921-
Identifier/Call Number: SPC.2019.031
Physical Description:
5 boxes
(1 document box, 2 box albums, and 2 photo boxes)
Physical Description:
2.59 Linear Feet
(5 boxes)
Physical Description:
7.37 Megabytes
(178 JPEG files)
Date (inclusive): circa 1930-1959; 1995
Abstract: 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.
Material Specific Details: English translation, synopses, and brief descriptions for Japanese language materials (except for journals and narratives)
are available at CSU Japanese American Digitization Project site.
Language of Material:
English
, Japanese
.
There are no access restrictions on this collection.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
In 2017, Atsushi Art Ishida donated three albums along with negatives to the Gerth Archives and Special Collections. The albums
contain photographs, documents, and memorabilia collected during World War II. In 2019, he brought additional two photo albums,
"Family photo album" and "Korean War photo album," and loaned them to be digitized. The digital reproductions of the photo
albums were then donated.
Availability of Digital Reproductions
Most of the items in this collection have been digitized and digital reproduction access derivatives (access files) are available
at the CSU Japanese American Digitization Project site:
Atsushi Art Ishida Digital Collection
Arranged in three series:
- Photographs
- Wartime material
- Magazines, clipping, and excerpt
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.
Following the attack on the Pearl Harbor, Executive Order 9066 was issued by the President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February
19, 1942. Atsushi received the notice of the exclusion order and had to leave within three days, and was imprisoned in several
camps during the war. On April 5, 1942, he was sent to the Santa Anita Assembly Center in California. He recollects the day
of the forced removal and incarceration: His baggage was inspected by the Army personnel, and he was provided with meal tickets
and assigned to a "room" which had been a horse stall and manure still remained on the wall and asphalt floor. On October
13, 1942, he was transferred from the Santa Anita Assembly Center to the Jerome incarceration camp in Arkansas. The trip took
three days by train without any stops. He remembers that the camp was in the middle of swamp forests and surrounded with the
barbed-wire fence and armed guard towers. Answering "no" and "yes" to questions 27 and 28 of the form that is known as the
"loyalty questionnaire," he was interrogated. During the interviews, he was not able to express his thoughts in English well
and appeared suspicious to the interrogators. The interviews concluded that he was dangerous and to be transferred to the
Tule Lake Segregation Center in California in May 1944 as one of the incarcerees who were renouncing their U.S. citizenship.
During his time in the Tule Lake camp, he was interrogated again but answered that he never wished to return to Japan or renounce
his U.S. citizenship but wanted to leave the camp. His answer surprised the interrogators but they decided to release him
from the Tule Lake camp. In February 1945, he voluntarily moved into the Minidoka incarceration camp in Idaho from the Tule
Lake camp and stayed with his friends briefly before being released from the camp. He moved to Chicago, Illinois in March
1945 to join his brother who had been settled there. He started reestablishing his life, working for a furniture manufacturer
company, and resided there until he was drafted for the Korean War in September 1946.
While he was deployed in Korea, he took a leave from service and visited his mother, sisters, and relatives in Hiroshima,
Japan and witnessed aftermath of the atomic bombing and devastation. During the visit, he met his future wife, Mamie Yoshiko
Sakamoto, who was also a Kibei Nisei but had been stranded in Japan through World War II. They married in Japan on November
14, 1947, and he was discharged in March 1948 but came back to the U.S. alone, and she followed after she managed to get a
permit. They resided in Chicago, farming for a while, and moved to Norwalk, California in 1949 to join his friend to farm
together. Their farming was not successful and he decided to move to Gardena, California for a gardening job. Prior to moving
to Gardena, however, he was recalled by the U.S. Army again and stationed in Tokyo, Japan, serving as the MIS reserves until
September 1951. After being discharged the second time, he returned to California, establishing himself in life as a gardener,
moved to Gardena with his wife in April 1957. His career continued to be a landscaper, studied landscaping, obtained certification,
and opened his private landscaping business in 1960s. He was a member of the Gardener's Association and retired in 1986. He
likes golf, cards, trip to Las Vegas, photography, and guitar. He continued to play on the golf course until the COVID-19
hit in 2020. Atsushi and Yoshiko have resided in Gardena since 1957 and remained married for 71 years. They have two daughters,
Lynn and Vicki, and Yoshiko passed away in November 2019. As of 2020 Atsushi continues to live in Gardena at the age of 99.
Existence and Location of Originals
Digital reproductions of two photo albums, "Family Photo Album" and "Korean War Photo Album," were donated to the Gerth Archives
and Special Collections; the physical materials (physical carriers) remain with the donor.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
The access derivatives (access files) created from the digital reproductions of the loaned items, "Family photo album" and
"Korean War photo album," are 7.37 MB (178 JPEG files) and stored on the Public Use Drive. Access to the files is available
on-site in the Gerth Archives and Special Collections reading room. Please request copies at the Reference Desk.
For information about citing archival material, see the
Citations for Archival Material guide, or consult the appropriate style manual.
Physical material was processed by Stella Castillo in 2017.
Additional materials and digitization were processed and English translation, synopses, and brief descriptions for Japanese
language materials were provided by Yoko Okunishi.
The Gerth Archives and Special Collections created digital reproductions from original items for long-term preservation and
electronic access, adhering to best practice and standards to ensure the authenticity, integrity, and security of material.
For more information on digitization process, please see
CSU Japanese American Digitization Project technical reference guide .
Most of the items in this collection have been digitized. The set of digital reproduction preservation files is stored on
the Gerth Archives and Special Collections' department drive for both preservation purposes and duplication requests.
The two albums, "Family Photo Album" and "Korean War Photo Album," are donation of the digital reproductions. The access files
for those digital reproductions are 7.37 MB (178 JPEG files) and stored on the Public Use Drive.
The set of access files was created for the digital management system and is stored on the Gerth Archives and Special Collections'
department external drive for staff use.
CSU Japanese American Digitization Project
This collection is part of the California State University Japanese American Digitization Project. Other collections about
the history of Japanese Americans are found in the digital repository:
CSU Japanese Digitization Project
Atsushi Art Ishida oral history interview was conducted by Densho and available at Densho Digital Repository:
Art Ishida Interview
George and Mitzi Naohara Papers
George Naohara is Kibei Nisei and a close friend of Atsushi Art Ishida. They both were incarcerated in the same camps during
the war and participated in Korean War. The two collections are intermingled because of their shared experiences. Please see
the George and Mitzi Naohara Papers finding aid .
The Atsushi Art Ishida Collection is comprised of photographs, negatives, camp newspapers, WRA documents, memorabilia, and
correspondence chronicling his time immediately after the exclusion order and during his incarceration in the Santa Anita
Assembly Center in California, the Jerome camp in Arkansas, the Tule Lake camp in California, and the Minidoka camp in Idaho,
as well as digital reproductions of photographs documenting his life in Japan and Artesia during the pre-war years and his
time during the Korean War.
During World War II, he ordered a camera from a Sears catalog while he was incarcerated in the Jerome camp. As a matter of
fact, a camera was one of the items which were strictly prohibited in incarceration camps especially in the West coast. Nonetheless,
the majority of the photographs in the collection were taken by him and he would often develop them in his room in the barracks
where he had constructed a makeshift dark room. His photographs depict life in the incarceration camps, capturing the buildings
such as barracks, guard towers, a hospital, fire station, and warehouse; the workers for farming, laundry, mess hall, and
logging; and the sports games that the incarcerees played. Also photographed are the farewell scenes which show the incarcerees
who were being transferred from the Jerome camp to the Tule Lake Segregation Center.
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.
By donor request, his journals and narratives written in Japanese are excluded from CSU Japanese American Digitization Project
site: Atsushi Art Ishida Digital Collection.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation, 1944-1945 -- Archives
Korean War, 1950-1953
Ishida, Atsushi Art, 1921- -- Archives
Santa Anita Assembly Center (Calif.)
Jerome Incarceration Camp
Tule Lake Segregation Center
Minidoka Incarceration Camp
Military Intelligence Service Language School (U.S.)
- Collection Overview
-
Collection Details
- Conditions Governing Access
- Immediate Source of Acquisition
- Availability of Digital Reproductions
- Arrangement
- Biographical / Historical
- Existence and Location of Originals
- Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
- Preferred Citation
- Processing Information
- Digital Reproductions
- CSU Japanese American Digitization Project
- Densho Digital Repository
- George and Mitzi Naohara Papers
- Scope and Contents
- Conditions Governing Use