Descriptive Summary
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Biography / Administrative History
Scope and Content of Collection
Arrangement
Indexing Terms
Index
Bibliography
Other Finding Aids
Descriptive Summary
Title: Lester E. Suzuki collection
Dates: 1942-1995
Collection number: GTU 2000-11-02
Creator:
Suzuki, Lester E.
Collection Size:
1 linear foot (1 box)
Repository:
The
Graduate Theological Union. Library.
Abstract: The collection consists of three drafts of his doctoral thesis Ministry in the Assembly and Relocation Centers of World War
II, as well as books and other research materials donated by Suzuki. The thesis describes daily life and worship in the Japanese
relocation centers. These materials were donated to the Graduate Theological Union by Seda S. Suzuki, widow of Lester E. Suzuki.
Physical location: Stored at GTU.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to The Graduate Theological Union. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Graduate Theological Union
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 reader.
Preferred Citation
Suzuki, Lester E. collection, GTU 2000-11-02. Graduate Theological Union Archives, Berkeley, CA.
Acquisition Information
The materials were donated to the Graduate Theological Union by Mrs. Seda S. Suzuki.
Biography / Administrative History
Lester Suzuki was born in Waipahu, HI in 1909. He moved to San Jose in his teens and later graduated from San Jose State University.
In 1934 Suzuki met and married Seda Shizuko Ito. He went on to receive a Masters of Divinity in 1935 from Drew Seminary, New
Jersey. Suzuki became one of the first Nisei Methodist ministers; his first pastorate was in Wapato, Washington.
During World War II Suzuki and his family were moved to a Japanese relocation center. One of his sermons may be found in "The
Sunday Before: Sermons by Pacific Coast Pastors of the Japanese Race on the Sunday before Evacuation to Assembly Centers in
the Late Spring of 1942." Suzuki was active in the Historical Society of the United Methodist church and wrote a biography
on the Life of Bishop Merriman Colbert Harris.
In 1976 he received a Doctor of Ministry from San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, his thesis was inspired by
his experiences in the relocation centers was called: Ministry in the Assembly and Relocation Centers of World War II. He
died in Berkeley, CA in 1999 after an extended illness.
Scope and Content of Collection
The materials were donated to the Graduate Theological Union by Mrs. Seda S. Suzuki. They contain some of Lester Suzuki's
books and three drafts of his doctoral thesis.
Arrangement
The box has been arranged with research materials first followed by the three drafts of the thesis, one chapter per file.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Japanese Americans--Religious life.
Japanese--United States--Religious life.
Japanese Americans--Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945.
Index
Suzuki, Lester E
Bibliography
Guthrie, Clifton F. (Clifton Floyd)
For all the saints
c1995
Renge, Melvin
Celebration, 75th anniv., 1908-1983, Japanese Congreg. Church
1984
Other Finding Aids
Japanese-American internment camp church bulletins and newsletters collection, 1942-1945, GTU 94-9-02; J. Stillson Judah:
Japanese Camp Books Collection, 1942-1946 , GTU 2001-3-01.