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Yoneda (Karl G.) papers
LSC.1592
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Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Karl G. Yoneda papers
Creator:
Yoneda, Karl G., 1906-1999
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.1592
Physical Description:
23 Linear Feet
(46 document boxes, 1 map folder)
Date (inclusive): 1892-1998, bulk 1925-1989
Date (bulk): 1925-1989
Abstract: Karl G. Yoneda was a Kibei-nisei, born in Glendale, California in 1906 and stayed in Japan between 1913 and 1926. He returned
to the United States in 1927 and joined the American Communist Party. During World War II, Yoneda was incarcerated in the
Manzanar War Relocation Center and volunteered to join the Military Intelligence Service Language School from the camp. He
served for the China-Burma-India Theater as a member of the Psychological Warfare Team, the United States Office of War Information.
Starting in the late 1960s, Yoneda gave lectures and talks at various classes and programs of academic institutions in the
West Coast and Hawaii and authored publications in English and Japanese. The collection consists of materials related to Yoneda's
involvement in the Japanese American left and labor movement, World War II internment, and the United States Military services.
Includes original manuscripts, publications, correspondence, photographs, and photocopied testimonies and investigation case
files.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
CONTAINS UNPROCESSED DIGITAL MATERIALS: Digital materials are not currently available for access and will require further
processing and assessment. If you have questions about this material please email spec-coll@library.ucla.edu.
Includes: one CD-R, 700 MB storage capacity
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained
by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue
the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
[Identification of item], Karl G. Yoneda Papers (Collection 1592). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Karl G. Yoneda, 1990.
Processed by Yoko Okunishi in the
Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT) with assistance from Kelley Wolfe Bachli, Megan Fraser, and Jillian Cuellar, 2011-2012.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user
interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides
a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive
processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating
existing description of our materials that contains language
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UCLA Catalog Record ID:
9936493453606533
Karl G. Yoneda was born in Glendale, California in 1906 to Japanese immigrant parents. Because of his father's illness, the
Yoneda family left the United States for Japan in 1913. During his stay in Japan, Yoneda received his education and was influenced
by left-wing and socialist ideas. Escaping from Japanese conscription, he returned alone to the United States in 1926. In
the United States he joined the American Communist Party, which launched his career as a labor and union organizer. As a longshoreman
by trade, he was affiliated with the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU), and also served as the
vice president and delegate of the Congress of Industrial Organizations Alaskan Cannery Workers Union. He was an editor of
???? Rodo Shinbun [= Japanese labor news] in San Francisco, an official newspaper of the Japanese section of the American
Communist Party, and a contributor to ?? Doho, a Japanese American leftist newspaper (a broad united front progressive paper)
published in Los Angeles. He was also a poet, publishing poems under several pseudonyms.
During World War II, Yoneda and his wife, Elaine Black Yoneda, were interned in the Manzanar War Relocation Center in Independence,
California. During incarceration, he served as a block manager and also formed the Manzanar Citizens Federation, which consisted
of pro-American and pro-communist internees. Its purpose was to improve camp conditions, initiate leadership education, participate
in war efforts, and prepare evacuees for postwar life. In the camp, he volunteered to join the Military Intelligence Service
Language School and was enlisted in the Psychological Warfare Team, the United States Office of War Information (OWI), and
served for the China-Burma-India Theater.
Starting in the late 1960s, Yoneda gave lectures and talks in various classes and programs of academic institutions on the
West Coast and in Hawaii. He also authored publications in English and Japanese. In 1999, Yoneda passed away at age 92 in
Fort Bragg, California.
The collection consists of materials related to Karl Yoneda's involvement in the Japanese American left and labor movement,
World War II internment, and the United States Military services. It includes original manuscripts, publications, correspondence,
photographs, and photocopied testimonies and investigation case files. Of note are leaflets and newspapers published and distributed
by the Japanese Bureau of the American Communist Party, leftist groups, and labor union members between 1923 and 1939. The
materials were distributed among Japanese communities in California, Seattle, Alaska, New York, Hawaii, Canada, Japan, and
Shanghai for various purposes, including to call for community participation internationally in the political fight against
Japanese imperialism and in the support of communists and the Soviet Union, and to advocate improvement of working conditions
and higher wages of local labor workers in California.
The collection also contains materials related to the internment of Yoneda and his wife, Elaine Black Yoneda, in the Manzanar
War Relocation Center. Materials Yoneda collected immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 depict
the anti-Japanese sentiment in the United States, while the materials written by Yoneda and/or the Japanese American community
groups express their faithful allegiance to the United States. During incarceration, Yoneda served as a block manager as well
as a member of the Manzanar Citizens Federation; as a result, this collection also contains Yoneda's reports and letters describing
the camp conditions, its organization and administration structure, jobs and wages, activities, and programs.
Propaganda materials included in the collection consist of ?? dentan [= airborne leaflets], newspapers, pamphlets, and a military
song book produced by the United States Psychological Warfare Team, Office of War Information. The purpose of propaganda materials
was to call on Japanese soldiers to surrender in the China-Burma-India Theater between 1944 and 1945.
Most of the collection is written in English and Japanese; some Japanese texts are attached with an English synopsis and annotations.
A small portion of materials are written in Chinese, Korean, Burmese, and Russian.
Arranged in the following series:
- Communist/Labor Union Activities
- World War II Internment
- Military Service of Japanese Americans
- Manuscripts, Publications, and Lectures
- Japanese American/Canadian Redress and Reparations
- Investigation Case Files
- Japanese American Citizens League
- Correspondence
- Personal Memorabilia
- Political Subject Files
Japanese American Research Project Collection (Collection 2010) . Available at UCLA Library Special Collections.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Journalists -- United States -- Archives.
Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945
Alaska Cannery Workers Association
Communist Party of the United States of America
Manzanar War Relocation Center
International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union
Military Intelligence Service Language School (U.S.)
United States. Office of War Information.
Yoneda, Karl G., 1906-1999