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Finding Aid to the Yoshiko Uchida photograph collection circa 1902-1991
BANC PIC 1986.059--PIC
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Collection Title: Yoshiko Uchida photograph collection
Date (inclusive): circa 1902-1991
Collection Number: BANC PIC 1986.059--PIC
Compiler:
Uchida, Yoshiko
Extent:
286 digital objects,
316 items (chiefly photographic prints and negatives)
Additions: ca. 715 items (albums, photographic prints, plus ephemera)
Repository:
The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
Abstract: Photographs related to the life and work of Japanese American author Yoshiko Uchida, including photographs of family and friends,
as well as photographs related to her career as a writer. Some images are of Tanforan, Heart Mountain and Topaz Japanese relocation
centers as well as Smith College.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in
English
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Collection is open for research.
Copyrights have been assigned to The Bancroft Library. Materials in this collection are protected by the U.S. Copyright Law
(Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California
gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction
of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners.
Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility
for any use rests exclusively with the user. All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials
must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000.
See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.
[Identification of item], Yoshiko Uchida photograph collection, BANC PIC 1986.059--PIC, The Bancroft Library, University of
California, Berkeley.
University of Oregon, Library. Eugene, Oregon. Yoshiko Uchida Collection.
University of Minnesota. Children's Literature Research Collections: Kerlan Collection. University Libraries, Minneapolis,
Minn.
Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, Calif.
Yoshiko Uchida Papers, 1903-1994 (BANC MSS 86/97 c)
Printed works transferred to the book collection of The Bancroft Library.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Photographs
Uchida, Yoshiko--Pictorial works
Tanforan Assembly Center (San Bruno, Calif.)--Pictorial works
Central Utah Relocation Center--Pictorial works
Japanese American authors--Photographs
Japanese Americans--Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945--Photographs
Heart Mountain Relocation Center (Wyo.)
The photographs have been arranged by library staff into the following series: Pre Camp, Mitsui & Co., Relocation (Topaz,
Heart Mountain, and Tanforan), Post Camp, and Artwork. The Pre-Camp series consists of images prior to the internment of the
Uchida family during World War Two, including family portraits and snapshots dating from 1903-ca. 1942. The Mitsui & Co. series
consists of a small number of images of the staff of Mitsui & Company in San Francisco, ca. 1917-1930. The three series of
Relocation views consist of approximately 25 snapshots and group portraits taken at the Topaz, Heart Mountain, and Tanforan
camps. A few general views of camps are present. Several snapshots of Uchida attending college in Massachusetts are also present.
See also the Artwork series. The Post Camp series encompasses all the images related to Uchida's personal and professional
life after World War Two, arranged roughly chronologically. The Artwork series consists of 18 copy photographs of artwork.
The bulk of this small series is 15 slides of art and documents relating to the Japanese internment.
Transferred from the Yoshiko Uchida Papers, which were given to The Bancroft Library by Yoshiko Uchida in increments beginning
in 1984. The final addition to her papers was made by the Estate of Yoshiko Uchida in December 1992.
Collection processed by Bancroft Library staff
This project was funded, in part, by a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Japanese American
Confinement Sites Grant Program. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are
those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Yoshiko Uchida was born in Alameda, California in 1921, the second daughter of Takashi ("Dwight") and Iku Umegaki Uchida.
Dwight Uchida immigrated to the United States from Japan in 1903 and worked for the San Francisco offices of Mitsui and Company,
where he eventually became a manager. Iku Umegaki, the eldest daughter of a prefectural governor of Japan, immigrated to the
U.S. in 1916 to marry Dwight Uchida. Both were graduates of Doshisha University, one of the early Christian universities of
Japan, and were early and active members of the Sycamore Congregational Church in El Cerrito, Calif.
Uchida and her older sister, Keiko ("Kay"), grew up in Berkeley, Calif. By Uchida's own account, her family was close-knit
and supportive. The written word was very important to Uchida's parents: her mother wrote poetry, the thirty-one syllable
Japanese tanka, and her father was a prolific correspondent. Uchida's own interest in writing began early. At the age of ten,
she wrote stories such as "Jimmy Chipmunk and His Friends" and "Willie the Squirrel" on brown wrapping paper. Uchida attended
Longfellow School in Berkeley and University High School in Oakland. She graduated with honors from the University of California
in 1942, with a B.A. in English, Philosophy, and History.
Uchida, however, was unable to attend her graduation ceremonies. After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and the
United States entered World War II, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, forcing the removal of all persons of
Japanese descent (both American citizens and non-citizens) living on the western coast of the United States into centralized
detention camps. Dwight Uchida was arrested, detained, and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp in Missoula, Montana. Uchida and
her mother and sister had only ten days to pack all their possessions and vacate the house where they had lived for fifteen
years. In May 1942, they were removed to the Tanforan Racetrack Relocation Center, where Yoshiko received her university diploma
in the horse stall that served as temporary barracks for the evacuees.
Eventually, Dwight Uchida was allowed to join his family at Tanforan, and in September 1942, the Uchida family was transferred
to the Topaz Relocation Camp in the Utah desert. In May 1943, both Yoshiko and Kay were able to leave the relocation camp.
Kay, who had a degree in child development, left to work in the nursery school of the Department of Education of Mount Holyoke
College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Yoshiko, with the help of the National Student Relocation Council, left to attend
Smith College in Northampton, Mass., where she was awarded a graduate fellowship and received a Masters in Education. Dwight
and Iku Uchida were eventually sponsored to leave Topaz for Salt Lake City, and finally settled in Philadelphia before the
end of the war.
After graduation from Smith College, Uchida taught elementary school at a small Quaker school on the outskirts of Philadelphia.
She soon found that she had no time to devote to writing and also became ill with mononucleosis. She moved to New York City,
where her sister was teaching in a private school, and worked as a secretary during the day to keep her evenings free for
writing. Uchida wrote short stories and submitted them to magazines, but met with little success until she discovered her
niche as a children's author. In 1949, her first book, The Dancing Kettle, was published, followed in 1951 by New Friends
for Susan.
In 1952, Uchida was awarded a Ford Foundation Foreign Study and Research Fellowship to Japan. While there, Uchida learned
about Japanese folk art from the three prominent men who founded the Japanese Folk Art Movement: the philosopher, Soetsu Yanagi,
and master potters, Shoji Hamada and Kanjiro Kawai. Uchida wrote a series of feature articles about the Folk Art Movement
for the Nippon Times, as well as a monograph about Kanjiro Kawai. On her return to the U.S., she served as the west coast
correspondent for Craft Horizons magazine.
After Uchida returned from Japan, she settled in Oakland, Calif., to care for her parents, who were both in poor health. Iku
Uchida died in 1966, and Dwight Uchida followed in 1971. After her father's death, Uchida moved into her own apartment in
Berkeley, where she lived and worked for the remainder of her life.
Over the course of her career, Uchida wrote more than forty published works. Her books include Journey to Topaz, Journey Home,
and Desert Exile, which draw on her experiences during World War II; The Dancing Kettle, The Magic Listening Cap, and The
Sea of Gold, which are compilations of folktales that she collected as a child and while in Japan; an autobiography, The Invisible
Thread; and the adult novel, Picture Bride. In addition to writing, Uchida made personal appearances, gave talks and speeches,
and answered the many letters from her fans.
Uchida was honored with many awards, including the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award, two Commonwealth Club of California Juvenile
Book Award Medals, the University of Oregon Distinguished Service Award, the California Japanese Alumni Association Award,
the California Reading Association Award, the Japanese American of the Biennium Award, the Japanese American Citizen's League
Award, the Nikkei in Education Award, and the Morris S. Rosenblatt Award from the Utah State Historical Society.
Uchida suffered from ill health during the later years of her life, which curtailed her writing and her public appearances.
She died in Berkeley on June 21, 1992.
Photographs related to the life and work of Japanese American author Yoshiko Uchida. Many family photographs are included
dating from Uchida's youth, with some of her parents and grandparents prior to her birth. The majority of the collection consists
of portraits and snapshots of the author herself, friends, associates, travels, and professional activities. Photographs relating
to her career as a writer include publicity photographs, book signings, group portraits, schools and children. Some images
are of Tanforan, Heart Mountain and Topaz Japanese relocation centers as well as Smith College.