Miller Freeman Correspondence
Finding aid created by Jamie Henricks.
Japanese American National Museum
100 North Central Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Email: collections@janm.org
URL: http://www.janm.org/
© 2017
Japanese American National Museum. All rights reserved.
Finding aid for the Miller Freeman Correspondence
Collection number: 2001.56
Descriptive Summary
Title: Miller Freeman correspondence
Dates: 1939-1945
Collection number: 2001.56
Collection Size:
1 folder
Repository:
Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Los Angeles, California 90012
Creator: Freeman, Miller
Abstract: The collection contains letters sent to Miller Freeman, publisher and chairman of the Joint Committee for the Protection of
the Pacific Coast Fisheries during the 1930s and 1940s. The letters range in date from 1939-1945.
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], Miller Freeman Correspondence. 2001.56, Japanese American National Museum. Los Angeles, CA.
Acquisition Information
The collection was acquired in 2001 as a gift of Richard Chikami and Arlene Kageyama.
Processing Information
Items were described initially by museum staff. A finding aid was created in 2017 by Jamie Henricks.
Biographical Note
Miller Freeman (1875-1955) began publishing Ranch and Range from a shop on First Avenue in Seattle at the age of 22. He launched
publication of the Pacific Fisherman in 1903, which grew to be the regional business resource for fishermen and canners. He
also served for 10 years as secretary of the Puget Sound Salmon Canners Association.
Miller began advocating for improved regional transportation as early as 1910 when he pushed for construction of a ship canal
to link the fresh waters of Lake Washington and the Puget Sound. He was a fishing industry magnate, Republican Party activist,
and the founder and leader of Washington State's Anti-Japanese League. He founded the company Miller Freeman, Inc., in 1902.
Many of the company’s publications were trade and marketing periodicals distributed free to subscribers in specific industries.
Scope and Content
The collection contains letters sent to Miller Freeman, publisher and chairman of the Joint Committee for the Protection of
the Pacific Coast Fisheries during the 1930s and 1940s. The letters range in date from 1939-1945. The letters are from various
government officials and others, in response to letters Freeman wrote. The contents are generally about Japanese Americans
and Freeman’s worries about Japanese American fishermen. The letters appear to be responding to Freeman’s questions and theories
of Japanese fishermen spying in Alaska, and response to receiving copies of his conservative articles in various fishing magazines.
The viewpoints range from urging Freeman to be cautious about discrimination, to agreeing with Freeman’s suggestions for more
research and action in response to suspected Japanese activities.
Related Materials
Another collection, the Miller Freeman papers, are available at the University of Washington.
Arrangement
Previous physical arrangement was preserved. Items were rearranged in chronological order in the finding aid.
Indexing Terms
Fisheries
Northwest, Pacific
Freeman, Miller, 1875-1955
Item 2001.56.9
Letter from J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI
12/8/1939
Item 2001.56.15
Letter from Cordell Hull, Secretary of State
1/21/1941
Item 2001.56.14
Letter from Gifford Pinchot
1/22/1942
Item 2001.56.18
Letter from Frank Knox, Secretary of the Navy
3/11/1942
Item 2001.56.1
Letter from Harry Cain, Mayor of Tacoma, Washington
3/17/1942
Item 2001.56.16
Letter from Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior
8/10/1942
Item 2001.56.8
Letter from Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior
8/11/1942
Item 2001.56.21
Letter from Frank Knox, Secretary of the Navy
8/11/1942
Item 2001.56.7
Letter from Anna Roosevelt Boettiger, Associate Editor the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
8/12/1942
Item 2001.56.17
Letter from Joseph C. Grew, Department of State
9/8/1942
Item 2001.56.2
Letter from Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior
9/9/1942
Item 2001.56.19
Letter from John Boettiger, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
9/17/1942
Item 2001.56.10
Letter from Frederic A. Delano, Chairman of the Executive Office of the President, National Resources Planning Board
9/24/1942
Item 2001.56.3
Letter from R.L. Wilbur, Chancellor of Stanford University
10/5/1942
Item 2001.56.4
Letter from R.L. Wilbur, Chancellor of Stanford University
10/7/1942
Item 2001.56.13
Letter from the Cordell Hull, Secretary of State to Senator Homer T. Bone
1/13/1943
Item 2001.56.22
Letter from [Lewis Manilow/Munlow?], Stanford University
1/30/1943
Item 2001.56.5
Letter from Frank Knox, Secretary of the Navy
12/6/1943
Item 2001.56.12
Letter from James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy
7/4/1944
Item 2001.56.6
Letter from Elmer Davis, Director of the Office of War Information
6/19/1945
Item 2001.56.11
Letter from Tom Clark, Attorney General to Congressman Hugh De Lacy [regarding the arrest of K.K. Kawakami]
7/18/1945
Item 2001.56.20
Letter from Elmer Davis, Director of the Office of War Information, to Congressman Hugh De Lacy [about K.K. Kawakami]
7/19/1945
