Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Toshima, Paul Junji , 1930-2010
- Abstract:
- The Paul Junji Toshima collection consists of four photograph albums primarly related to the Korean War and a painting of an incarceration camp.
- Extent:
- 1 box
- Language:
- English , Japanese , Korean .
- Preferred citation:
-
[title of item] Paul Junji Toshima Collection, Courtesy of the Gerth Archives and Special Collections. California State University, Dominguez Hills.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Paul Junji Toshima Collection (1942-1953) contains 640 photographs and a painting belonging to Paul Junji Toshima. The bulk of the photographs were taken during the Korean War when Toshima served in a military intelligence unit. The images within the albums include photographs of Prisoners of War and the shelters they were held, secret military mission code-named Operation Little Switch, a variety of photographs of the truce talks and switching of Prisoners of War on both sides, an 8x10 inch photograph of a captured communist platoon leader and 12 pieces of propaganda- two of which are attached to reports with translations and interpretations. The collection also includes a handwritten chart listing all officers and enlisted men; photographs of high ranking military and government officials including Far East Commander and Chief General Mark Clak and Secretary of Defense Anna Rosenberg; photographs of the landscape and signs along the 38th parallel; and an image of the President of South Korea Sygman Rhee and his wife. Additional photographs include Tokyo, Japan; Seoul, Korea in 1953; government buildings; shrines; bombed neighborhoods; rural scenes and farm life; and a photograph taken in November 1953 of Hiroshima, Japan.
The collection also contains an original painting of an incarceration camp and an original photograph of children at an incarceration camp.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Paul Junji Toshima (1930-2010) was a Japanese American soldier who served in a special military intelligence unit. Toshima was a lifelong resident of Alhambra, California, and was among the Nisei (second-generation Japanese Americans) officers and soldiers who made vital contributions during the Korean War by operating behind enemy lines as interrogators, translators, and message interceptors. Toshima was the unofficial documentarian of his unit. Many of the photographs within the collection are hand-annotated, and the albums are signed yearbook style by the men he served with.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
There are no access restrictions on this collection.
- Terms of access:
-
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.
- Preferred citation:
-
[title of item] Paul Junji Toshima Collection, Courtesy of the Gerth Archives and Special Collections. California State University, Dominguez Hills.
- Location of this collection:
-
University Library, 5th Flr (5039)1000 E. Victoria StreetCarson, CA 90747, US
- Contact:
- (310) 243-3895