Collection Guide
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Wada (Tomoji) Family Papers
SPC.2019.029
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
California State University Dominguez Hills, Gerth Archives and Special Collections
Title: Tomoji Wada Family Papers
Creator:
Wada, Tomoji, 1882-1964
Creator:
Wada, Kan, 1889-1974
Creator:
Wada, Joe, 1930-2013
source:
Wada, Marion
Identifier/Call Number: SPC.2019.029
Physical Description:
6 boxes
(4 document boxes and 2 short top boxes including 2 disks (1 CD and DVD))
Physical Description:
2.83 Linear Feet
(6 boxes and 206 MB (37 digital files))
Date (inclusive): 1903-2016; undated
Abstract: This collection contains materials regarding Tomoji Wada's business on Terminal Island, California, immigration materials,
and incarceration camp records pertaining to Tomoji Wada and his family. Included are taxes, receipts of expenses, and ledgers,
receipts for his donations to Japanese American organizations, photographs, journals, notebooks, books, a metal seal stamp
for Terminal Island Credit Union, immigration documents of Tomoji and Kan Wada, WRA documents, and wood carving tools and
plaques created in the camp. Materials include image files created and transferred from the donor as well as digitized materials
produced by the Gerth Archives and Special Collections. Selected digitized items in this collection are available online.
Material Specific Details: English translation, summaries, and synopsis are available at the CSU Japanese American Digitization Project site:
Tomoji Wada Family Papers Digital Collection
Condition Description: Donation of digital surrogates. The decision of the donation of the physical items will be made at a later time.
Language of Material: In English and Japanese. English translation, synopses, and brief descriptions for Japanese language materials are available
at CSU Japanese American Digitization Project site.
There are no access restrictions on this collection.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
In 2017, Marion Wada agreed to loan the collection for digitization and donate digital surrogates to the Gerth Archives and
Special Collections. The decision on whether the original items are donated or retained in the donor's location will be made
at a later time. The collection also contains digital files on two disks (1 CD and DVD), which were disk imaged on August
14, 2019 to create master preservation copies and to extract the content files.
Availability of Digital Reproductions
The selected items from this collection have been digitized and digital reproduction access files are available at the CSU
Japanese American Project site:
Tomoji Wada Family Papers Digital Collection
Arranged in eight series:
- Series I: Tomoji Wada business materials, 1918-1955
- Series II: Incarceration camp, 1941-1945
- Series III: Correspondence, 1918-1977
- Series IV: Photographs, 1925-2006
- Series V: Scrapbooks, undated
- Series VI: Biographical information, 1918-2010
- Series VII: Books for gardening, 1903, 1944, 1948, 1955, 1958
- Series VIII: Taiji whaling; Terminal Island; Wakayama, 1932-2016
Tomoji Wada (1882 October 2–1964 October 24) was the 11th head of the Wada clan, one of the local ruling families in Wakayama,
Japan. The Wada clan is also a descendant of Chubei Yoritomo Wada, who was a whaling pioneer in Taiji, Wakayama, Japan, in
the 15th century.
Tomoji Wada left Japan for Victoria British Columbia, Canada, in 1900 and stayed for six years, having a multiple jobs to
make a living. He immigrated to the United States in 1907 and studied English and bookkeeping in Seattle, Washington. In 1917,
he moved to Terminal Island, California, and worked as an interpreter and bookkeeper for T. Taniji Company, Star Canning Co.
and Seacoast Packing Co., and was hired by the U.S. War Department to get local Japanese residents registered for enlistment.
In 1928, he started a grocery store and manufactured tofu and mochi on Terminal Island, leasing land from the City of Los
Angeles. He was also a contributor to local Japanese American community organizations, serving as a board member and committee
member and making donations to them.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was arrested by the FBI but released shortly after. Although he was able to manage the
family's moving to Bakersfield, fleeing from the mass removal from Terminal Island, they were later incarcerated in the Poston
camp in Arizona. During his incarceration, he established a tofu manufacturing plant in the Poston camp, and became a gardener
after returning from the incarceration camp to Los Angeles, California.
Existence and Location of Originals
Physical materials of the collection have been stored in the Gerth Archives and Special Collections.
For information about citing archival material, see the
Citations for Archival Material guide, or consult the appropriate style manual.
Filenames of 37 image files transferred from the donor were renamed reflecting their physical carriers' locations (box and
folder numbers of CD and DVD). The transferred JPEG files were normalized to a TIFF format for preservation purposes.
The Gerth Archives and Special Collections also derived digitized materials from original items for long-term preservation
and access, adhering to best practice and standards to ensure the authenticity, integrity, and security of material. A JPEG200
format was generated from a TIFF format for access derivatives by CONTENTdm. Text files were normalized to a PDF format; redaction
was applied to protect personal identifiable information; and large files were compressed for greater efficiency online. For
more information on digitization production, please see
CSU Japanese American Digitization Project technical reference guide.
All digital objects are available at CSU Japanese American Digitization Project site:
Tomoji Wada Family Papers Digital Collection
English translation, synopses, and brief descriptions for Japanese language materials are provided by the finding aid author
and also available at CSU Japanese American Digitization Project site.
The collection was processed and English translation was provided by Yoko Okunishi.
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 American Digitization Project technical reference guide .
Tomoji Wada was an interpreter, bookkeeper, operator of a grocery store, and manufacturer of tofu and mochi on Terminal Island,
California prior to World War II. He established a tofu manufacturing plant in the Poston camp in Arizona during the war,
and became a gardener after returning from the incarceration camp to Los Angeles, California.
The collection consists of receipts, ledgers, a metal seal stamp, taxes, correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, journals,
guidebooks, immigration materials, and incarceration camp records pertaining to Tomoji Wada and his family, including wood
plaques with carved poems. Noted are materials evidencing Tomoji Wada's assistance to the U.S. Department of War. The collection
contains a letter from the War Department Local Board for Division No. 3 seeking assistance from him to get local Japanese
residents to register for enlistment. There are questionnaires in Japanese created by Mr. Wada and his 1918 income tax return
form listing the remuneration. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was arrested by the FBI but released shortly after, and
there are letters in which he was granted "alien enemy permit to travel" from Terminal Island to Bakersfield after being released
from the FBI. He was able to manage the family's moving to Bakersfield, fleeing from the mass evacuation, but they were later
incarcerated in the Poston camp. Mr. Wada itemized all of his property left behind and merchandise sold off on Terminal Island
prior to his moving to Bakersfield showing his economic losses. There is a letter he wrote from the Poston camp challenging
the tax collector to refund his tax payments.
Materials include born-digital objects created and transferred from the donor as well as digitized materials produced by the
Gerth Archives and Special Collections.
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.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Terminal Island (Calif.)
Japanese Americans -- California, Southern
Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945
World War, 1939-1945 -- Concentration Camps -- United States
United States -- Emigration and immigration -- History
Poston Incarceration Camp
Wada, Marion
- Collection Overview
-
Collection Details
- Conditions Governing Access
- Immediate Source of Acquisition
- Availability of Digital Reproductions
- Arrangement
- Biographical / Historical
- Existence and Location of Originals
- Preferred Citation
- Digital Reproductions
- Processing Information
- CSU Japanese American Digitization Project
- Content Description
- Conditions Governing Use