Goodman (Joseph R.) Papers on Japanese American Incarceration, 1941-1945

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Summary

Title:
Joseph R. Goodman papers on Japanese American incarceration
Dates:
1941-1945
Abstract:
Personal correspondence, organizational records, government documents, publications, and other papers created or collected by Joseph R. Goodman documenting the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, as well as organized resistance to incarceration. Included in the collection are records of the Japanese Young Men's Christian Association and the Japanese American Citizens League in San Francisco, including papers of the Japanese YMCA's executive secretary Lincoln Kanai; Sakai family papers; Goodman's correspondence to and from Japanese American incarcerees, anti-internment organizations, the War Relocation Authority, and others; publications, photographs, and ephemera from the Topaz Relocation Center, where Goodman taught high school; War Relocation Authority records and publications; and newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and reports about Japanese American incarceration created by various government, religious, and civic organizations, in California and nationwide.
Extent:
3 linear feet (3 boxes, 1 half box, and 1 oversize flat box)
Language:
Collection materials are in English, with some materials in English and Japanese.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item, date] Joseph R. Goodman papers on Japanese American incarceration (MS 840). California Historical Society Collection at Stanford, Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of personal correspondence, organizational records, government documents, publications, and other papers created or collected by Joseph R. Goodman documenting the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, as well as organized resistance to incarceration. Included in the collection are records of the Japanese Young Men's Christian Association and the Japanese American Citizens League in San Francisco, including papers of the Japanese YMCA's executive secretary and civil rights advocate, Lincoln Kanai; Sakai family papers, including Ayako Sakai's letters from the Tanforan Assembly Center; Goodman's correspondence to and from Japanese American incarcerees, anti-internment organizations, the War Relocation Authority, and others; publications, photographs, and ephemera from the Topaz Relocation Center, where Goodman taught high school; War Relocation Authority records and publications; and newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and reports about incarceration of Japanese Americans created by various government, religious, and civic organizations, in California and nationwide.

Comprising correspondence, reports, recommendations, notes, addresses, and other documents, Lincoln Kanai and the Japanese Young Men's Christian Association papers (1942) document conditions at the camps, as well as Kanai's involvement in the anti-internment movement. Included in these files are reports from the Puyallup, Tanforan, Pinedale, and Santa Anita Assembly Centers; written protests; and copies of letters from Robert Sproul and to Dorothea Lange. The records of the Japanese American Citizen League of San Francisco, also dated from 1942, include minutes, newsletters, bulletins, and correspondence documenting that organization's advocacy work on behalf of Japanese Americans during World War II. Ayako Sakai papers (1942-1943) comprise letters, poetry, and other documents, many of which were sent to Sakai by family members and friends while she was incarcerated at Tanforan Assembly Center in San Bruno.

Joseph R. Goodman correspondence and other papers (1942-1943) include letters written to and from Goodman documenting his advocacy efforts on behalf of the Sakai family, Japanese American students, and the Japanese American community in San Francisco and nationwide. Correspondents include Goodman's friends Ayako Sakai, George Sakai, and Lincoln Kanai; the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council; the Fellowship of Reconciliation; the American Friends Service Committee, Northern California Section; the Northern California Committee on Fair Play for Citizens and Aliens of Japanese Ancestry; the Sakai House, a San Francisco cooperative; and the War Relocation Authority. Goodman's papers also include letters written to and by Lincoln Kanai, which Kanai copied for Goodman's files.

In addition to these papers, the collection includes publications, photographs, and ephemera created at the Topaz Relocation Center (1942-1944), where Goodman taught high school science and math. Among these are the journals Volunteers for Victory, Topaz Times, All Aboard, and Trek; the Topaz High School newspaper Topazette; photographs of the Topaz High School football team; and a 1943 copy of Ramblings, the Topaz High School yearbook, owned by Lincoln Kanai.

The collection also contains a wide variety of published material collected by Goodman documenting the incarceration of Japanese American and anti-Japanese racism during World War II (1941-1945), including newspapers, especially the Nichi Bei; newspaper clippings; magazine articles; pamphlets; reports; and a scrapbook of newspaper clippings.

Biographical / historical:

Joseph R. Goodman was an advocate for the Japanese American community in San Francisco and nationwide during World War II, providing assistance and support to friends and incarcerees at the camps; aiding Japanese American students and activists; participating in the anti-internment movement; and, between 1942 and 1944, teaching high school math and science at the Topaz Relocation Center in Utah.

Born in Tacoma, Washington, in 1911, Goodman moved to San Francisco in the early 1940s, where he met his wife Elizabeth Baker and worked as assistant superintendent of the Steinhart Aquarium. Active members of the American Friends Service Committee, the Goodmans began to assist and advocate for Japanese Americans forced from their homes in San Francisco, beginning in 1942. Among their friends were Lincoln Kanai, executive secretary of the San Francisco chapter of the Japanese Young Men's Christian Association and civil rights advocate; and the Sakai family, whose San Francisco home the Goodmans rented. (It later became the "Sakai House" cooperative.) Between 1942 and 1944, Goodman taught math and science at Topaz High School. Elizabeth Goodman also worked at the camp.

After World War II, Goodman served as a professor at the Veterans Administration Hospital and in the pediatrics department at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). He died in 2004.

Acquisition information:
Donated to the California Historical Society by Dr. Joseph R. Goodman in 1972. Transferred to Stanford University Libraries in 2025.
Processing information:

The collection was processed by California Historical Society staff in 1972. Materials were rehoused in 2011.

Physical location:
Special Collections and University Archives materials are stored offsite and must be paged three business days in advance. For more information on paging collections, see the department's website: https://library.stanford.edu/libraries/special-collections.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Bibliography:

Sources consulted for the biographical note:

Gathright, Alan, "Joseph Goodman -- UCSF pediatrics professor," <em>San Francisco Chronicle</em>, 2004 April 22.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Marie Silva
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-01-13 11:09:56 -0800 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Special Collections and University Archives materials are stored offsite and must be paged three business days in advance. For more information on paging collections, see the department's website: https://library.stanford.edu/libraries/special-collections.

Terms of access:

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. See: http://library.stanford.edu/spc/using-collections/permission-publish.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item, date] Joseph R. Goodman papers on Japanese American incarceration (MS 840). California Historical Society Collection at Stanford, Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California.

Location of this collection:
Department of Special Collections, Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6004, US
Contact:
(650) 725-1022
chscollection@stanford.edu
Website