Collection context
Summary
- Extent:
- 2 Linear Feet (3 shoeboxes, 1 half-manuscript box)
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item and/or item number], [box and folder number], Harold N. Ouye collection, MS0195, Center for Sacramento History.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection consists of 8 mm color film footage and color photographic slides shot by Harold N. Ouye that document the Ouye family and Sacramento's West End and Japantown before, during, and after redevelopment. Material dates from 1945 to 1968. It is divided into two series. The first is focused on Sacramento scenes and redevelopment. The second contains family films; some of these reels also include Sacramento street scenes.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Harold N. Ouye was born March 13, 1907, in Florin to Kenichi and Sada Ouye, Japanese immigrants from Hiroshima who worked as fruit farmers. The Ouyes had five other children: Fred, Carnegie, Norman, Alice, and Raymond (who died in infancy). The family moved to Lodi when Ouye was a child. He attended University of California, San Francisco, graduating with a pharmacy degree. After graduation, Harold worked as a pharmacist in Stockton and Fresno, then moved to Sacramento where he opened Nippon Drugs at 3rd and L streets. Ouye and his wife, Grace, were married in the early 1930s and they had three children: Sandra Mori, Gail Yoshioka, and Lloyd Ouye.
In 1942, the United States issued Executive Order 9066 calling for the removal and incarceration of people of Japanese descent into internment camps. The Ouyes were incarcerated at Tule Lake War Relocation Center. After their release, Ouye and his brother Fred opened Ouye's Pharmacy at 4th and L streets in 1947. The store moved to 10th and V streets in 1959 after Sacramento's Japantown was demolished during redevelopment. The brothers retired in 1977, after which Harold's son Lloyd took over the business. It closed in 2007.
Ouye was a founder of the South Tanoshimi Kai senior program at the Sacramento Japanese Methodist Church and was a member of the Sacramento Japanese American Citizens League. He died August 21, 1991, in Sacramento.
- Acquisition information:
- Donated by Gail Yoshiaka in 2016 (2016/014) and Kevin Wildie in 2024 (2024/024).
- Processing information:
-
Processing and finding aid by Kim Hayden, 2024.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection is arranged into 2 series:
- Series 1. Sacramento redevelopment, West End, and Japantown, 1955-1968
- Series 2. Ouye family, 1949-1967
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
The collection is open for research.
- Terms of access:
-
All requests to publish or quote from private manuscripts held by the Center for Sacramento History (CSH) must be submitted in writing to csh@cityofsacramento.org. Permission for publication is given on behalf of CSH as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the patron. No permission is necessary to publish or quote from public records.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item and/or item number], [box and folder number], Harold N. Ouye collection, MS0195, Center for Sacramento History.
- Location of this collection:
-
551 Sequoia Pacific Blvd.Sacramento, CA 95811, US
- Contact:
- (916) 808-7072