This collection includes seventy digitized photographs documenting the life of the Ikemi family before, during, and after World War II. Images in the collection include photographs of friends and family of the Ikemi family, including June and Julie Sugimoto, and incarcerated Japanese Americans at the Poston Incarceration Camp.

May Ikemi was born May Matsubara on April 5, 1925, in Rosamond, California, to Shojiro and Kiri Matsubara. May had three siblings: Shoji Matsubara, Shiyoichi Matsubara, and Rose Matsubara. Her mother and father, born in Japan, immigrated to the United States on the S.S. Ecuador and arrived in San Francisco on January 10, 1917. Her father was a farmer, and her mother was a housewife. Her father, Shojiro, passed away on September 20, 1940, prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor and U.S. involvement in World War II. During World War II, May and her family were forceably removed to the Poston Incarceration Camp in Southwestern Arizona and arrived at the incarceration camp on May 25, 1942. May finished high school in 1943 and received her diploma from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. On May 24, 1944, May was released from the incarceration camp and moved to Peoria, Illinois, to work with friends, June and Julie Sugimoto, who were also in the Poston Incarceration Camp. May Ikemi, June, and Julie Sugimoto worked for the Burchette family, who owned several photo studios in Peoria, Illinois. May spent time in Chicago, Illinois, with her mother and sister, and after a period of time, she returned to California, where she met her husband Kozo Ikemi.

33.5 Megabytes 101 jpeg files

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of the Gerth Archives and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Gerth Archives and Special Collections as the owner of the physical materials and not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

There are no access restrictions on this collection.