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Kayashima (Shizuko) Photograph Album
MC317
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
University of California, Davis Library, Dept. of Special Collections
Title: Shizuko Kayashima Photograph Album
Creator:
Kayashima, Shizuko
Identifier/Call Number: MC317
Physical Description:
1 volume
222 black-and-white photographs, from 1.5 x 1 inch thumbnail portraits to 8 x 10 inches. Oblong folio. Contemporary cream
cloth photograph album, decoratively-stamped in gilt, white, and blue, with the image of a naval ship stamped on the front
cover, string- tied.
Date (inclusive): 1936-1943
Abstract: Photograph album memorializing the school-age life of Shizoku Kayashima, a young Japanese-American woman living in California
in the 1930s.
Physical Location: Researchers should contact Archives and Special Collections to request collections, as many are stored offsite.
Language of Material:
English
.
Shizoku Kayashima was a young Japanese-American woman living in California in the 1930s. Shortly after graduating from high
school, she was interned at the Poston War Relocation Center. While there, she met her future husband, fellow internee George
K. Hasegawa; the couple married in Detroit in 1944. After Hasegawa served in the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946, the couple settled
in St. Louis, where they became notable members of the Japanese- American community.
Annotated vernacular photograph album memorializing the school-age life of a young Japanese-American woman in California named
Shizuko "Skeets" Kayashima, mostly in the years immediately preceding the internment period, but with a few internment- related
photographs. The album captures three images of Kayashima's grammar school in Terra Bella in 1936 and numerous shots of her
life at Porterville Union High School beginning in 1938. There are several photographs inscribed to Kayashima, along with
multiple portraits of her mounted in the album. There are also a few dozen photographs, both individual and group shots, featuring
identified Japanese Americans and other fellow students and friends of Kayashima's. These photographs provide a rare and valuable
record of young Japanese-American men and women in central California before the internment period. The album also includes
pictures of school groups on field trips, at French Camp, in a school production of The Magic Beanstalk, and more. Several
photographs from the summer of 1941 show Kayashima and her fellow students at their high school graduation. The largest photograph
in the album features the Southern District Young Woman's Buddhist Association's 4th Annual Play Day on August 10, 1941. The
final leaves of the album contain about a dozen professional portraits Toward the end of the album, two photographs show Kayashima's
friends in Denson, Arkansas, the location of the Jerome War Relocation Center. The first, featuring Funye Tahara, is inscribed
to Kayashima in 1943. The second, inscribed to Kayashima using her nickname "Skeets," shows a young Japanese- American soldier
named Ross Iwanaga at Denson, in front of a sparse background. He is shown wearing a shirt for Camp Wolters, an American military
base located near Mineral Wells, Texas. Iwanaga is listed as an internee at Jerome in the Christmas Eve, 1942 issue of Communique,
the internment camp newsletter. Shortly after graduating from high school, Shizuko "Skeets" Kayashima was interned at the
Poston War Relocation Center.
[Description provided by William Reese]
Collection is open for research.
Liz Phillips created this finding aid with information supplied by William Reese.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from William Reese, 2021.
[Identification of item], Shizuko Kayashima Photograph Album, MC317, Archives and Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University
of California, Davis.
All applicable copyrights for the collection are protected under chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code. Requests for permission
to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California as the owner of the physical items. It is not intended to
include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Japanese Americans -- California -- Pictorial works
Japanese Americans -- Forced removal and internment, 1942-1945
Women -- California -- History
Kayashima, Shizuko -- Archives
Michael and Margaret B. Harrison Western Research Center