Finding Aid for the Kumez Hachimonji papers, 1918-1955 LSC.2010.10

Japanese American Research Project (JARP) Collection
Finding aid prepared by Manuscripts Division staff; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé
UCLA Library Special Collections
© 1998
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
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Fax Number: 310-206-1864
spec-coll@library.ucla.edu

Note

History --World War IISocial Sciences --Area and Interdisciplinary Studies --Asian American StudiesSocial Sciences --Business and EconomicsHistory --History, California --History, Los Angeles AreaGeographical (By Place) --California --Los Angeles Area


Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Kumezo Hachimonji papers
Creator: Hachimonji, Kumezo
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.2010.10
Physical Description: 1 oversize_boxes
Date (inclusive): 1918-1955
Abstract: Kumezo Hachimonji was born in 1888. A native of Miyagi Prefecture, he graduated from Thoku Gakuin in Sendai and arrived in the United States in 1918. He received his BS from Columbia University. Before World War II he owned and operated Valley Seed Company in El Monte, California. He was also known as K. Hatchmonji. The collection consists of diaries, essays, memoirs, correspondence, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, photographs, and photographic negatives related to the life of agricultural specialist and merchant Kumezo Hachimonji. Materials in the collection are in English and Japanese.
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 and Japanese.

Restrictions on Access

Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

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.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Kumezo Hachimonji papers, Japanese American Research Project Collection (Collection 2010). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

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UCLA Catalog Record ID

UCLA Catalog Record ID: 9942331033606533 

Biography

Hachimonji was born in 1888; a native of Miyagi Prefecture, he graduated from Thoku Gakuin in Sendai and arrived in the United States in 1918; BS, Columbia University; owned and operated Valley Seed Company in El Monte, California, before World War II; he was also known as K. Hatchmonji; died in 1956.

Scope and Content

Collection consists of diaries, essays, memoirs, correspondence, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, photographs, and photographic negatives related to the life of agricultural specialist and merchant Kumezo Hachimonji. Correspondence is made up of typewritten excerpts from internment camp letters exchanged between the Hachimonjis and their friends. Hachimonji's memoirs are contained in a volume which spans the dates 1934-39. The essays in the collection, put together around 1955, cover a variety of topics, including the Arab-Israeli conflict, farming, wartime evacuation, Japanese-Chinese relations, racism, and immigration. A scrapbook contains articles by Hachimonji on agriculture which appeared in a Japanese language newspaper, 1939-40.
Materials in the collection are in English and Japanese.

Organization and Arrangement

Arranged in the following series:
  1. Memoirs and essays.
  2. Diaries, 1941 and 1945-46.
  3. Four scrapbooks.
  4. Two photographic negatives of Hachimonji's wedding.

Related Material

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Japanese Americans -- United States -- Archives.
Merchants -- California -- El Monte -- Archives.
Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945
Scrapbooks.
Hachimonji, Kumezo, 1888-1956--Archives.
Japanese American Research Project (University of California, Los Angeles)

 

Hachimonji papers 1918-1955

General Physical Description note: 1.5 linear ft.
box 61, folder 1

Memoirs, To my children, 2 volumes. 1934-1939 & 1955

General Physical Description note: (2 diary-books)
box 61, folder 1

Volume 1. 1934-1939

Scope and Contents note

He wrote: "I have [for] a long time been thinking of writing down memoirs of such nature that relates to our boys' life, Memoirs that would interest them when they are grown, that would help them in steering through the life when they are grown. I would write my failures -- try avoid[ing] them, my boys."
box 61, folder 1

Volume 2. 1955

Scope and Contents note

A collection of essays on a wide variety of topics -- Arab-Israel conflict, farming, wartime evacuation, religion, Japanese-Chinese relations, racism, and immigration, etc. -- which were written after he became ill.
box 61, folder 2

Diaries, 2 volumes. 1941 & 1945-1946

General Physical Description note: (2 diary-books)
box 308

Scrapbook I, The Dawn of Life. 1928-1945

General Physical Description note: (1 oversize scrapbook)

Scope and Contents note

Contains records, documents and photographs on his children with explanatory notes.
box 308

Scrapbook II, The Long Journey. 1942-1948

General Physical Description note: (1 oversize scrapbook)

Scope and Contents note

Contains typewritten excerpts from the internment camp correspondence exchanged between Hachimonji Kumazo and his children and friends.
box 61, folder 3

Scrapbook III. 1918 1924

General Physical Description note: (1 scrapbook)

Scope and Contents note

Unindentified newspaper clippings, mostly from English language press.
box 61, folder 3

Scrapbook IV. 1939-ca. 1941

General Physical Description note: (1 scrapbook)

Scope and Contents note

Clippings of Hachimonji's articles on agriculture which appeared on a Japanese language press (not identified).
box 61, folder 4

Two photographic negatives of Hachimonji's wedding. n.d.

General Physical Description note: (2 items)