Finding aid to the Joseph R. Goodman papers on Japanese American incarceration, 1941-1945, MS 840

Marie Silva

California Historical Society

2011

678 Mission Street

San Francisco, CA 94105

reference@calhist.org

URL: http://californiahistoricalsociety.org/

Contributing Institution: California Historical Society

Title: Joseph R. Goodman papers on Japanese American incarceration

Creator: Goodman, Joseph R.

Identifier/Call Number: MS 840

Physical Description: 3 linear feet 3 boxes, 1 half box, and 1 oversize box

Date (inclusive): 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.

Physical Location: Collection is stored onsite.

Language of Material: Collection materials are in English, with some materials in English and Japanese.

Access

CHS is not taking appointments for research at this time. Please check the Library's website updates: https://californiahistoricalsociety.org/collections/north-baker-research-library/

Acquisition Information

Donated to the California Historical Society by Dr. Joseph R. Goodman in 1972. Three volumes ( Ramblings, hardcover, 1943, 1944, and 1945) were returned to Dr. Goodman in 1974.

Existence and Location of Copies

Majority of the collection has been digitized and is available online through the California Historical Society Digital Library, as well as through the CSU Japanese American Digitization Project at https://csujad.com.

Biographical Information

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.

General

Formerly described as the Goodman (Joseph R.) Papers on Japanese American Internment.

General

Material from this collection was digitized as part of the CSU Japanese American Digitization project. https://csujad.com/

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Joseph R. Goodman papers on Japanese American incarceration, MS-840; California Historical Society.

Processing Information

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

Scope and Contents

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.

Publication Rights

Because of the assembled nature of this collection, copyright status varies across the collection. Copyright is assumed to be held by the original creator of individual items in the collection. Unpublished works are expected to pass into the public domain 120 years after their creation; works published before 1923 have entered the public domain. The California Historical Society (CHS) is not authorized to grant permission to publish or reproduce materials from this collection. For more information, please contact rights@calhist.org.

Bibliography

Sources consulted for the biographical note:

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

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Japanese Americans -- California

Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945

World War, 1939-1945 -- Evacuation of civilians

World War II -- Mass removal ('Evacuation')

World War II -- Incarceration camps

World War II -- Temporary Assembly Centers

World War II -- Resistance and dissidence

Correspondence

Documents

Periodicals

World War, 1939-1945 -- Evacuation of civilians

Central Utah Relocation Center.

Goodman, Joseph R.--Archives.

Japanese American Citizens' League. San Francisco Chapter.

Japanese Young Men's Christian Association (San Francisco, Calif.).

Kanai, Lincoln.

Sakai family.

United States. War Relocation Authority.

Box 1, Folders 1-2

Lincoln Kanai and Japanese Young Men's Christian Association papers 1942

Lincoln Kanai and Japanese Young Men's Christian Association papers, 1942