Guide to the Nelson and Beverly Nagai Collection of Asian-American History and Culture M1928
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
2018
Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford 94305-6064
specialcollections@stanford.edu
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Nelson and Beverly Nagai Collection of Asian-American History and Culture
source:
Nagai, Nelson
source:
Nagai, Beverly
Identifier/Call Number: M1928
Physical Description:
7.5 Linear Feet
: 10 boxes, 2 oversize folders
Date (inclusive): circa 1968-1980
Abstract: Publications & ephemera of late-20th century radical political activism centered in the Bay Area, with an emphasis on Asian-American
activism. Includes correspondence, newspapers, pamphlets, periodicals, posters, printed ephemera, t-shirts, buttons, and videocassettes.
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of publications & ephemera of late-20th century radical political activism, with an emphasis on Asian
American protest movements. The collection includes the following material:
Radical Asian community newspapers, most from the 1970s and 1980s ; various pamphlets related to Communism, the African-American,
Chicano and Puerto Rican communities, and American workers’ and radical Leftist movements; t-shirts with safety-pin buttons
from the 1970s; large photographs of the sites of Japanese internment camps in California; and movie posters of films about
Asians and Asian-Americans.
Biographical / Historical
Nelson Nagai was the chairperson of the constitution committee of Stockton’s Yellow Seed, a community service organization.
While at Stanford University, Nagai also served as the chairperson of the Asian American Student Association. During the International
Hotel struggle, Nagai served as the auditor of the International Hotel Tenants Association.
The original Kearny Street Workshop (KSW) storefront in San Francisco Chinatown, 1971, located on the ground floor of the
International Hotel. At the time, the images produced by KSW's silkscreen and graphics artists were among the first to portray
strong and bold images of Asian Americans. The group's work was a hallmark of the Asian American movement on the West Coast
but it was also a place "where they felt they belonged," which is how Nelson Nagai described the Yellow Seed, a Stockton organization
(see text below).
From an excerpt of "I Come From a Yellow Seed" by Nelson Nagai:
"[In 1969] it was decided that the Asian community needed a drop-in center for youth -- some place where they felt they belonged
and an alternative to the pool hall [which had been boycotted because the white owner told Asians to leave the establishment].
So the Yellow Seed Center was born.
Quickly an organization was started around the center. [In 1971] the Yellow Seed received funding for a recreation center
to serve the children of Asian cannery workers from the federal government. Our idea was to provide activities for Asian children
so that they would not have to run the streets like we did."
From Snapshots of Asian America (KQED)
Conditions Governing Access
Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use. Audiovisual materials
are not available in original format, and must be reformatted to a digital use copy.
Conditions Governing Use
While Special Collections is the owner of the physical and digital items, permission to examine collection materials is not
an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission
or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns.
Preferred Citation
[identification of item], Nelson and Beverly Nagai Collection of Asian-American History and Culture (M1928). Dept. of Special
Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Nelson Nagai, 2012. Accession 2012-249.
Related Materials
Some items were catalogued individually and can be found on Searchworks at this link:
https://searchworks.stanford.edu/catalog?q=%22The+Nelson+and+Beverly+Nagai+collection+of+Asian-American+history+and+culture.%22&search_field=subject_terms
University of the Pacific holds the Nelson Nagai And Grace Sumida Collection (MSS 329), whjich contains material collected
by Nelson and his mother Grace.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Radicalism.
Asian-Americans -- History
Printed ephemera
Nagai, Nelson
Nagai, Beverly
box 1, folder 1
The Struggle Against Revisionism and Opportunism (Black Workers' Congress)
box 1, folder 2
"Party Building in the Heat of the Class Struggle" (Puerto Rican Revolutionary Workers)
box 1, folder 4
Nihonmachi Little Friends
box 1, folder 5
Bay Area Asian Coalition Against the War
box 1, folder 7
Stanford Asian-American Students' Association
box 1, folder 8
CANE (Committee Against Nihonmachi Eviction)
box 1, folder 10
Asian American Student Alliance (Stanford)
box 1, folder 11
Left in Form, Right in Essence
box 1, folder 13
Unidentified Transparencies
box 1, folder 15
Roadblocks to Community Building (Stockton Filipino Community Center)
box 2, folder 2
How Capitalism has been Restored in the Soviet Union
box 2, folder 3
The Energy Crisis and You
box 2, folder 4
Ideology of the Young Lords Party
box 2, folder 5
Communist Revolution: The Road to the Future, The Goal We Will Win
box 2, folder 6
Critique of the Black Nation Thesis
box 2, folder 8
A New Outlook on You on Me on Health
box 2, folder 9
From Trotskyism to Social-Imperialism
box 2, folder 10
The Anti-Marxist-Leninist Line of Progressive Labor
box 2, folder 11
A Polemic Against The Guardian's Revisionism
box 2, folder 12
Proletarian Internationalism or Revisionism
box 2, folder 13
The "New Economic Policy"
box 2, folder 14
Affirmative Action Discrimination (conference)
box 2, folder 15
Defeat the "National Question" (New Voice)
box 2, folder 16
Beyond Welfare (Committee for Political Development)
box 2, folder 17
Wage Controls and How to Fight 'Em (United Front Press)
box 2, folder 18
The United Front Against War and Fascism (Gamma Publishing)
box 2, folder 19
Unite the Many, Defeat the Few (Guardian pamphlet)
box 2, folder 20
Workers' Viewpoint Journal
box 3, folder 1
Against Dogmatism on the National Question
box 3, folder 2
Campesinos Organizan su Union - ¡SI SE PUEDE!
box 3, folder 3
The Heritage of Sen Katayama
box 3, folder 4
For Working Class Unity and Black Liberation
box 3, folder 5
A Comment On The Statement Of The Communist Party (USA)
box 3, folder 7
Chinese-American Workers: Past & Present
box 3, folder 8
August 29th Movement (ATM)
box 3, folder 9
Statements of the Founding (League of Revolutionary Struggle)
box 3, folder 10
New Programme and New Constitution of the Revolutionary Communist Party
box 3, folder 11
Voices: A Filipino American Oral History
box 3, folder 12
Little Manila Site Dedication Pamphlet (with inserted note)
flat-box 4, folder 7
Bay Area Asian Coalition Against The War
flat-box 4, folder 10
Da Zhong Bao (English Section)
flat-box 4, folder 11
Honolulu Star Bulletin (Pearl Harbor)
flat-box 5, folder 1
Photographs (from "Bill") of Tule Lake Site
map-folder 10
Miscellaneous Posters
Scope and Contents
Please note: many have evidence of evidence of display and are damaged and or fragile.
[color photocopies of WWII Allied propaganda]
Asian/Pacific Students Taking a Stand in '84: California Statewide Asian/Pacific Student Union Conference, March 3, 1984 (Little
Tokyo Art Workshop, L.A.)
Sanrizuka [graphic of plane flying into crosshairs]
Asian American Music: Joannne & Chris ; Hey Bro from L.A. [etc.] Stanford Branner Hall May 29th
One Struggle - Many Fronts. Defeat U.S. Aggression. Bay Area Asian Coalition - Red Banner Collective (fragile/damaged)
One Struggle - Many Fronts. Hiroshima - Nagasaki - Indochina. Stop The Genocide of Asian People (water damage)
[International Hotel] Manilatown Heritage Foundation, 23rd Anniversary Commemoration August 6, 2000
Save the International Hotel. Low Cost Is A Right of the People (1972 People's Press)
Long Live the International Hotel! March & Rally - October 9th (International Hotel Tenants Association - International Hotel
Support Committee)
Committee Against Nihonmachi Eviction (Cane) Principles
Relocation Sites (copy of Western Defense Command & 4th Army - Wartime Civil Control Administration map)
Join the 1979 Tule Lake Pilgrimage & Plaque Dedication (Tule Lake Committee)
The Other Side of Infamy [graphic of watchtower at camp]
Any Day Now - The April 3rd Movement (fragile/damaged)
If We Worry About What's Going To Happen ... [quote and photograph of Bobby Seale] (Berkeley Graphic Arts)
May Day, May 1, 1969. Free Huey Day. Mass Rally, Federal Building, San Francisco (fragile/damaged)
Hasher Power - No Business As Usual [stencil on newsprint]
map-folder 11
Miscellaneous film posters (inscribed to Nagai)
box 12, folder 1
Asian Americans: A Guide to Library Resources (Stanford) Manuscript
box 12, folder 2
National Filipino American Youth Association - 7th Annual Conference
box 12, folder 3
Asian American Jazz Festival
box 12, folder 4
Reader on History of Pilipinos in America
box 12, folder 5
Prairie Fire (Weather Underground)
box 12, folder 6
The Red Papers (Revolutionary Union)
box 12, folder 7
Puerto Rican Communist Pamphlets
box 12, folder 8
The 80s (Communist Workers' Party)
box 12, folder 9
Crime Among Our People (Pacesetters)
box 12, folder 10
Marxist-Leninist Pamphlets
box 12, folder 11
Struggle in the RU (Black Workers' Congress)
box 12, folder 13
Misc. Flyers from 11th Annual APAHE Conference
