Edo Mita Papers

Finding aid created by Christine Chan.

Japanese American National Museum

100 North Central Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90012

Email: collections@janm.org

URL: http://www.janm.org/

Finding aid for the Edo Mita Papers

Collection number: 2020.57

Descriptive Summary

Title: Edo Mita papers

Dates: 1930-1955

Collection number: 2020.57

Collection Size: 1 linear foot (1 box and 1 oversized folder)

Repository: Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Los Angeles, California 90012

Creator: Mita, Edo

Abstract: This collection includes materials collected by and created primarily by Edo Mita, dating from 1930-1955. The bulk of the collection are personal diaries related to his time in 1930s France, correspondence with Huguette Clark and others on the topic of Japanese cultural dress, materials related to his deportation case, and personal photographs.

Physical location: Japanese American National Museum. 100 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012.

Access

By appointment only. Please contact the Collections Management and Access Unit (collections@janm.org). Advanced notice is required.

Publication Rights

All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in this collection must be submitted to the Collections Management and Access Unit at the Japanese American National Museum (collections@janm.org).

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Edo Mita Papers. 2020.57, Japanese American National Museum. Los Angeles, CA.

Acquisition Information

Acquired in 2020 as a gift of Kene Rosa.

Processing Information

The collection was processed and the finding aid created in 2022 by Christine Chan.

Biographical Note

Edo Heihachi Mita was born on May 8, 1908, in Tokyo, Japan, son of famed actor Sojin Kamiyama (also known as Mitsugu Mita). In 1922, he immigrated with his parents at age 13 to San Francisco, California, before settling in Los Angeles. An artist and poet, he spent some time in France during the early 1930s, as recorded in his journals. Sometime prior to 1940, he married his first wife, Chiyeko (Chiye) Mori. During World War II, Chiye was sent to the concentration camp at Manzanar, while Edo – who had been diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1928 – was sent to Hillcrest Sanitarium in La Crescenta, California, where it appears he remained from 1942 until 1947/1948. In 1950, he married Janet Callendar but the marriage was short-lived and he married Hester Cushing two years later. Throughout the 1950s, Edo – who was also known as Edward Kamiyama (and possibly Ed Sojin Jr) – appeared in a handful of Hollywood films and television shows, among them the role of “Mr. Sasikawa” in the television episode “Decoy,” from Alfred Hitchcock Presents. During this time, Edo also successfully fought against a 1952 McCarran-Walter Act deportation order while battling stomach cancer. He died on May 12, 1963, at the age of 54 and is buried at the Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum in Altadena, California.

Scope and Content

This collection includes materials collected by and created primarily by Edo Mita, dating from 1930-1955. The bulk of the collection are personal diaries related to his time in France circa the 1903s, correspondence with Huguette Clark and others on the topic of Japanese cultural dress, materials related to his deportation case, and personal photographs. There are multiple folders of magazine clippings used as supporting material for Clark’s research.

Related Materials

JANM has other collections related to works by artists in Europe in the 1930s, including Henry Sugimoto.

Arrangement

Materials were organized by topic. Correspondence was arranged by sender and then chronologically.

Indexing Terms

Mita, Edo

Clark, Huguette, 1906-2011

Diaries

Correspondence

Diary, August 1930 -June 1931 (2020.57.1)

Diary, August 1931 [French] (2020.57.2)

Unpublished novella, August 1931 (illustrated; in Japanese; Title: Heart of [unknown word]) (2020.57.3)

Diary, 1931-1932 [French] (2020.57.4)

Documents related to deportation (McCarran-Walter Act) case

Letters from Edo Mita to Huguette Clark, 1939-1941, 1949-1950, undated

Letters from Richard Funakura(?) and Chie Mita, 1947

Letters from Frances Yokoyama (with oversize artwork removed), 1947

Letters from Huguette Clark, 1946-1955, undated

Loose correspondence, circa 1947-1955

Photographs of Edo Mita and wife Hester Mita

Family photographs, circa 1954-1964

Photographs of unknown event in Tokyo (some individuals identified in Japanese)

Sketches of Edo Mita and Hester Cushing Mita

Scrapbook page with obituary of Edo Mita

Christmas card artwork

Research materials - handwritten notes - drawings

Research material - handwritten notes on photos

Research material - reference photos (2 folders)

Huguette Clark and "research" photos

Ephemeral research materials (Huguette Clark art and magazine clippings)

Ephemeral research materials (magazine clippings) (3 folders)

Oversize artifact removed from Frances Yokoyama folder