Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Murai Family papers
- Dates:
- 1940-1945, bulk bulk 1942-1945
- Creators:
- Murai family
- Extent:
- 0.75 linear feet
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Murai Family papers. 2002.134, Japanese American National Museum. Los Angeles, CA.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This collection contains letters, ephemera, a book and several photographs. It is divided into four series: Correspondence, Photographs, Ephemera and Publications.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Koh Murai was a chemist, writer and editor of the "Beikoku Sangyo Nippo" (American Industrial Daily) newspaper in Los Angeles from 1936 to 1941. He also edited a commemorative book about Japanese American industry published on the 2600th anniversary of the Japanese imperial line, in 1940. His wife, Mitzu (Fukai), was a teacher from Fukushima who immigrated to the United States in 1913.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Koh Murai was arrested immediately and taken to Fort Missoula, Montana. During the war, he was incarcerated in Fort Livingston, Louisiana, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Rohwer, Arkansas. Kotaro left the Tanforan Assembly Center for Lincoln, Nebraska to attend the University of Nebraska, then the University of Minnesota to study Organic Chemistry. Throughout this period, Koh and Kotaro on maintained frequent letter correspondence in English. Koh Murai inquired after his son's well being, sent money for school, and encouraged him to study hard.
At some point it appears that Koh Murai was hired by the government to promote resettlement to camp residents. After the war, the parents relocated to Denver, Colorado, where Mitzu worked as a nurse at a Catholic hospital. Koh later wrote a pamphlet in Japanese entitled the "U.S. Citizenship Reader," a guide for Issei taking the naturalization exam (also in the permanent collection under ID number 97.154.35).
After Kotaro Murai passed away, his wife Mary Murai donated the letters, ephemera, photographs and book edited by Koh Murai to the Japanese American National Museum.
- Processing information:
-
This finding aid was created as part of a project funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The project started in 2007. Project Archivist was Yoko Shimojo. Processed by Meghan Potter, with assistance from the Project Archivist in 2009.
- Physical location:
- Japanese American National Museum, 100 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012
- Rules or conventions:
- Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Date Prepared:
- © 2010
- Date Encoded:
- Machine-readable finding aid created by Meghan Potter. Machine-readable finding aid derived from MS Word. Date of source: January 30, 2010.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
By appointment only. Please Contact the Collections Management and Access Unit by email (collections@janm.org) or telephone (213-830-5615).
- Terms of access:
-
All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in this collection must be submitted to the Hirasaki National Resource Center at the Japanese American National Museum (collections@janm.org).
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Murai Family papers. 2002.134, Japanese American National Museum. Los Angeles, CA.
- Location of this collection:
-
Collections Management & Access Unit100 North Central AvenueLos Angeles, CA 90012, US
- Contact:
- 213-625-0414