Inventory of the Collection of the Terminal Island Personal Histories SPC.2020.036
Terminal Island Personal Histories Collection
Lindsay Anderson
California State University Dominguez Hills, Gerth Archives and Special Collections
December 10, 2020
University Library South -5039 (Fifth Floor)
1000 E. Victoria St.
Carson, CA 90747
archives@csudh.edu
Contributing Institution:
California State University Dominguez Hills, Gerth Archives and Special Collections
Title: Terminal Island Personal Histories Collection
Creator:
Hirashima, Mary
Creator:
Izumi, Toshiro
Creator:
Tamura, Bob
Creator:
Tamura, Mary
Creator:
Yamashita, Dorothy
Identifier/Call Number: SPC.2020.036
Physical Description:
401.4 Megabytes
Date (inclusive): 1994-1995
Abstract: The Terminal Island Personal Histories Collection features one transcribed oral history, one autobiography, and one possible
rough draft edition of a book entitled, "Terminal Island: An Island in Time, Collection of Personal Histories of Former Islanders
1994-1995". All of the materials in this are available online.
Language of Material:
English
.
History of Terminal Island
Terminal Island was the location of a Japanese fishing village in the Port of Los Angeles. Early Japanese immigrants settled
and fished for abalone and lobster in the San Pedro Bay area in 1899, but the community eventually shifted to East San Pedro
on the western end of Terminal Island by 1910, where fishermen saw more profit in catching sardines and tuna[1]. By the 1930s,
the Japanese settlers eventually outnumbered other immigrant communities in the area as their population reached its peak
at around three thousand[2]. What was most unique about the Japanese on Terminal Island was that the residents were able to
maintain their indigenous and cultural identity due to them being an insulated and mostly homogenous community.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, the FBI made quick work of arresting and searching the homes of Issei
(first-generation Japanese American) leaders and fishermen under the suspicion that they had the potential to contact enemy
vessels with their long-distance sea-faring boats and shortwave radios, and that the Issei, who were aliens ineligible for
citizenship by law, would be more closely aligned to their home country than the United States[3]. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19th, 1942, resulting in the mass removal of all peoples of Japanese ancestry away
from the West Coast. Terminal Islanders, though, were not given the luxury of preparing to move, unlike other Japanese American
communities, as they were only given 48 hours beginning on February 25th before they would be forcibly evicted and sent to
temporary quarters before being incarcerated in concentration camps, such as Manzanar[4].
Upon the return home soon after World War II ended, Terminal Islanders would come to find unfortunate dramatic changes: the
navy soon occupied East San Pedro, razing homes and shops, and confiscating abandoned boats for military purposes, and the
California Fish and Game Commission prohibited "Japanese aliens" or "aliens ineligible for citizenship" from getting commercial
licenses. The prevention of Japanese Americans in California from getting commercial licenses would eventually be overturned
in the U.S. Supreme Court (Takahashi v. Fish and Game Commission) in 1948 after its constitutionality was challenged[5]. Terminal
Island would never be restored to the thriving fishing village it once was. What exists today, though, is the Terminal Islanders
Club, which is an association comprised of former residents and their descendants.
[1]Lilian Takahashi Hoffecker. "Terminal Island, California," Densho Encyclopedia https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Terminal%20Island,%20California
(accessed Dec 14 2020).
[2]Lilian Takahashi Hoffecker. "Terminal Island, California".
[3]Lilian Takahashi Hoffecker. "Terminal Island, California".
[4]Lilian Takahashi Hoffecker. "Terminal Island, California".
[5]Lilian Takahashi Hoffecker. "Terminal Island, California".
Conditions Governing Access
There are no access restrictions on this collection.
Conditions Governing Use
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.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This collection was loaned to the Gerth Archives and Special Collections in 2020. All materials were returned to the donor.
Existence and Location of Originals
This collection contains digital reproductions created from loaned materials. The donors retained the original, physical items.
Existence and Location of Copies
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
All of the digital reproductions are available online at
Terminal Island Personal Histories Collection. They are also available on the Public Use Drive as PDF files at the Gerth Archives And Special Collections. Please request
copies at the reference desk.
Processing Information for Digitized Materials
The Gerth Archives and Special Collections created digitial reproductions (401.4 MB) from the original material for long-term
preservation and access. These preservation files were scanned and stored on the Gerth Archives and Special Collections Department
Drive. For more information on the best practices and standards for the digitization process, please see:
CSU Japanese American Digitization Project Technical Reference Guide.
Scope and Contents
The Terminal Island Personal Histories Collection (1994-1995) contains 401.4 MB of digitized materials featuring one transcribed
oral history, one autobiography, and one possible rough draft edition of a book entitled, "Terminal Island: An Island in Time,
Collection of Personal Histories of Former Islanders 1994-1995", which compiles 34 more transcribed oral histories, biographies,
and autobiographies of the Japanese American residents who lived on Terminal Island before being forcibly removed in the wake
of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Preferred Citation
Related Materials
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.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Terminal Island (Calif.)
United States -- Emigration and immigration -- History
Japan -- History -- 20th century
Japanese Americans--Biography
Japanese Americans -- History -- 20th century
Japanese American families
Japanese American soldiers
Japanese American veterans
Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Attack on, 1941
World War, 1939-1945 -- Concentration Camps -- United States
Racism
Interviews
Oral history
Transcription
Fish canneries
Fishing stories, American
item Public Use Drive , folder Terminal Island Personal Histories Collection , item teri_01_01
"Terminal Island: An Island in Time, Collection of Personal Histories of Former Islanders 1994-1995," 1 of 2
1994-1995
Physical Description: 8.5 x 11 inches; 264 pages; 16 PDF files; 80.3 MB
Language of Material: English.
Scope and Contents
Part one of a possible rough draft edition of the book entitled, "Terminal Island: An Island in Time, Collection of Personal
Histories of Former Islanders 1994-1995", containing transcribed oral histories, biographies, and autobiographies of the Japanese
American residents who lived on Terminal Island. Included are 264 pages separated into 16 PDF files.
item Public Use Drive , folder Terminal Island Personal Histories Collection, item teri_02_01
"Terminal Island: An Island in Time, Collection of Personal Histories of Former Islanders 1994-1995", 2 of 2
1994-1995
Physical Description: 8.5 x 11 inches; 183 pages; 18 PDF files; 10.5 MB
Language of Material: English.
Scope and Contents
Part two of a possible rough draft edition of the book entitled, "Terminal Island: An Island in Time, Collection of Personal
Histories of Former Islanders 1994-1995", containing transcribed oral histories, biographies, and autobiographies of the Japanese
American residents who lived on Terminal Island. Included are 183 pages separated into 18 PDF files.
item Public Use Drive , folder Terminal Island Personal Histories Collection , item teri_02_02
Memoir and oral history transcription of former Terminal Island residents
1994-04-23, 1994-06
Physical Description: 8.5 x 11 inches; 18 pages; 2 PDF files; 915 KB
Language of Material: English.
Scope and Contents
Includes a memoir written by Kimiye Okuno Takeuchi Ariga in June 1994 and an edited version of Mary Hirashima's oral history
transcription from April 23, 1994. A pre-edited version of Mary Hirashima's oral history transcription is included in "Terminal
Island: An Island in Time, Collection of Personal Histories of Former Islanders 1994-1995." There are 18 pages total separated
into 2 PDF files.