This collection documents the professional activities of Gary Okihiro including research he conducted for his publications. One such publication is Storied Lives: Japanese American Students and World War II (1999). Based on archival research and oral histories from nisei students, Storied Lives describes how these students relocated to colleges and universities outside of the West Coast exclusion zone with the assistance of the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council (NJASRC), formerly the National Student Relocation Council. The collection contains correspondence, photocopies of archival documents mostly dating from the 1940s, and some photographs and negatives.

Gary Y. Okihiro is a professor of international and public affairs and director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race at Columbia University in New York City. Okihiro has also taught at Cornell University, Santa Clara University, and Humboldt State University. He received a Ph.D in Asian American History, African American History, and Linguistics from University of California at Los Angeles in 1976. He is the author of eight books, including Common Ground: Reimagining American History (2001) and Cane Fires: The Anti-Japanese Movement in Hawaii, 1865-1945 (1991). Okihiro has also published numerous articles and reviewed essays on Asian American history, oral history, and African population. In addition, he has presented papers at and participated in a number of conferences and symposiums on African studies, Asian studies, and women's history. Okihiro has played an active role in a variety of capacities for various professional organizations, including Organization of American Historians, Japanese American Resource Center, Asian Americans for Community Involvement, and Association for Asian American Studies. Among the awards he has received are a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Studies Association and several notable fellowships.

All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in this collection must be submitted to the Collections Management and Access Unit at the Japanese American National Museum (collections@janm.org).

By appointment only. Please contact the Collections Management and Access Unit (collections@janm.org). Advanced notice is required.