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Title: Herman Kleiner collection
Dates: 1942-1944
Date: 1992
Collection number: 96.80
Collection Size:
2 folders
Repository:
Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Los Angeles, California 90012
Collector: Kleiner, Herman
Abstract: This collection contains items collected by Herman Kleiner, dating from 1942 to 1944 (and one item from 1992). The contents
include mostly newspaper articles and reports, but also includes correspondence about Japanese American students. Most the
items relate to Japanese Americans in or from the Pacific Northwest.
Physical location: Japanese American National Museum. 100 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012.
By appointment only. Please contact the Collections Management and Access Unit (collections@janm.org). Advanced notice is
required.
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).
[Identification of item], Herman Kleiner Collection. 96.80, Japanese American National Museum. Los Angeles, CA.
Acquired in 1996 as a gift of Mr. Herman Kleiner.
The collection was processed by Claire Gordon. A finding aid was created in 2016 by Jamie Henricks.
Herman Kleiner was born in Tacoma, Washington on August 24, 1921. His parents were Moritz “Morris” and Pauline Kleiner, who
were originally from Tarnopol (a city formerly under Austrian control, then Polish, now currently in Ukraine) and Canada,
respectively. Pauline was Jewish. He had two younger siblings, and the family continued to live in Washington. Herman’s
parents eventually became naturalized citizens. After attending College of Puget Sound and serving in the Air Force during
World War II, he went into business with his father at the Model Lumber Company in Tacoma. Model Lumber closed in 1986.
Other information about Herman Kleiner and his family can be found in various locations, including:
http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ohc/id/2300/ (an audio oral history)
http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv54647/pdf (oral history with transcript)
http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv25857/pdf (Herman's father's oral history)
http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/roho/ucb/text/kleiner_morris.pdf (Herman's father's oral history transcript)
http://www.foresthistory.org/ead/Kleiner_Leon_J.pdf (Herman's uncle’s scrapbook)
http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ohc/id/2300/ (an audio oral history)
http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv54647/pdf (oral history with transcript)
http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv25857/pdf (Herman's father's oral history)
http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/roho/ucb/text/kleiner_morris.pdf (Herman's father's oral history transcript)
http://www.foresthistory.org/ead/Kleiner_Leon_J.pdf (Herman's uncle’s scrapbook)
The collection includes newspaper articles and clippings, reports, booklets, multiple issues of Poston Camp’s Press Bulletin,
a few Christian publications, and correspondence to and from Herman Kleiner, from 1942 to 1944. (One college history paper
from 1992 is also part of the collection.) Other printed materials include flyers and papers from the American Friends Service
(the Quakers) and the Church of the Brethren farm work camp, an issue of the Nippon Times, and other items. The most detailed
item in the collection is a report from the Seattle chapter of the JACL with information including the Japanese in American
economic life, agriculture information, businesses owned by Japanese Americans (hotels, restaurants, fishing, lumber, etc),
public opinion, problems with evacuation, and other information. Most items relate to Japanese Americans relocated during
World War II or fighting in Europe, primarily in or from the Pacific Northwest.
The museum holds other collections with materials related to helping Japanese American students, including the Hugo W. Wolter
papers (97.329), and others.
Original arrangement was preserved. Materials are organized by subject.
Japanese Americans--Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945
Japanese Americans--Washington (State)--History