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Harvey Itano Personal Correspondence and Memorabilia
MSS 0755  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Publication Rights
  • Preferred Citation
  • Acquisition Information
  • Biography
  • Scope and Content of Collection
  • Related Materials

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: Harvey Itano Personal Correspondence and Memorabilia
    Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0755
    Contributing Institution: Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
    9500 Gilman Drive
    La Jolla, California, 92093-0175
    Languages: English
    Physical Description: 2.8 Linear feet (3 archives boxes, 1 records carton, 1 card file, 3 oversize folders and 1 art bin item)
    Date (inclusive): 1937 - 2010 (bulk 1941-1945)
    Abstract: Personal papers and memorabilia of Harvey Itano, American biochemist and pioneer in the study of sickle cell anemia hematology. During World War II, Itano, along with his parents and siblings were sent to an internment camp; of particular interest in the collection are letters written to and from Itano during his internment.
    Creator: Itano, Harvey A.

    Publication Rights

    Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.

    Preferred Citation

    Harvey Itano Personal Correspondence and Memorabilia, MSS 755. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.

    Acquisition Information

    Acquired 2013.

    Biography

    Harvey Akio Itano was born on November 3, 1920, in Sacramento, California, the eldest son of Masao and Sumako (Nakahara) Itano. Itano attended University of California, Berkeley, and graduated in 1942 with highest honors in chemistry. Due to President Roosevelt's anti-Japanese campaign following Pearl Harbor, Itano with his family was sent to the desolate Tule Lake camp. While in the camp, Itano kept applying to medical schools throughout the country. With assistance from the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council, Itano was released from the camp to attend St. Louis School of Medicine. In 1945, Itano received his M.D. and continued Ph.D. studies at the California Institute of Technology in biochemistry where he studied and worked with Linus Pauling.
    Itano is known for his pioneering work with sickle cell anemia disease, the topic assigned to him as a Ph.D. thesis topic by Linus Pauling. Sickle cell anemia disease is a hereditary disease commonly found among people of African descent. Itano tried several different physical and chemical methods to distinguish normal hemoglobin from sickle cell hemoglobin and finally he was able to demonstrate the difference by using electrophoresis. At that time, electrophoresis was a new technique that allowed researchers to separate molecules according to their electrical charge and Itano found a slight difference in electrophoretic mobility between normal and sickle cell hemoglobins. That led to understanding that patients with sickle cell anemia have a different type of hemoglobin than healthy individuals and thus a cause of a disease was traced to a molecule. Later, this inspired Vernon Ingram's seminal discovery of a single amino acid difference between normal and sickle cell hemoglobin and allowed him to explain a hemoglobin abnormality by an alteration in genes. After completing the project, Itano continued to work in the field of molecular medicine and published extensively about genetic and molecular basis of other blood pathologies and hereditary diseases.
    Itano was awarded Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry (1954) and Martin Luther King Jr. Medical Achievement Award (1972) for his pioneering work on sickle cell anemia disease. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (1979), American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1998), American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Biochemistry Society (London), Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, and Alpha Omega Alpha.
    Itano passed away in La Jolla, California in 2010.

    Scope and Content of Collection

    Personal papers and memorabilia of Harvey Itano, American biochemist and pioneer in the study of sickle cell anemia hematology. During World War II, Itano, along with his parents and siblings were sent to an internment camp; of particular interest in the collection are letters written to and from Itano during his internment.
    Arranged in three series: 1) CORRESPONDENCE, 2) MEMORABILIA, and 3) REALIA.

    Related Materials

    Harvey Itano Papers, MSS 226. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Itano, Harvey A. -- Archives
    Itano, Harvey A. -- Correspondence
    Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945
    Tule Lake Relocation Center
    World War, 1939-1945 -- Concentration camps -- California