Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Toshima (Paul Junji) Collection
SPC.2018.009
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
California State University Dominguez Hills, Gerth Archives and Special Collections
Title: Paul Junji Toshima Collection
Creator:
Toshima, Paul Junji , 1930-2010
Identifier/Call Number: SPC.2018.009
Physical Description:
1 box
Date (inclusive): 1942-1953
Abstract: The Paul Junji Toshima collection consists of four photograph albums primarly related to the Korean War and a painting of
an incarceration camp.
Language of Material:
English
, Japanese
, Korean
.
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.
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.
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] Paul Junji Toshima Collection, Courtesy of the Gerth Archives and Special Collections. California State University,
Dominguez Hills.
There are no access restrictions on this collection.
This collection is part of the California State University Japanese American Digitization Project. For more information:
CSU Japanese American Digitization Project.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Japanese American soldiers -- History -- 20th century
Japanese Americans
Korean War, 1950-1953
Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945