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Finding Aid for the Kasai Family Papers, 1904-1972
2010
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Title: Kasai Family Papers
Date (inclusive): 1904-1972
Collection number: 2010
Creator:
Kasai, Henry Yoshihiko
Extent:
8 boxes
1 flat (4 linear feet)
Abstract: The collection consists of the personal and business records of Henry Yoshihiko Kasai. Included are documents and records
from Mr. Kasai's involvement in community and civil organizations in Utah and records regarding his internment during World
War II. Also among the material are business records of the Kasai Insurance Agency.
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special
Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library Special
Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary 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], Kasai Family Papers (Collection 2010). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
4233210
The material in the Kasai family papers form a part of the Japanese American Research Project (Coll. 2010). During intial
processing, the papers were given a high-level arrangement, but were not described in any detail. In 2006, the items were
inventoried, housed in folders, and arranged into series to enhance access to the collection.
Processed by Yoko Shimojo, with assistance from Elizabeth Sheehan, Winter 2006, in the Center For Primary Research and Training
(CFPRT)
Yoshihiko ("Henry") Kasai was born September 25, 1890 at Kawaguchi-mura, Minamitsuru-gun, Tamanashi-ken, Japan to Kisaku Kasai
(father ) and Mura Kasai (mother).
In May 1904, Mr. Kasai left Japan in order to attend school in the United States. He arrived in San Francisco on June 8, 1904
aboard the "Kaptic-Maru." He began his elementary school education in Mountain View, California, but joined his father and
uncle in September 1906 in Idaho, where they were engaged in farming sugar beets. He attended Idaho Falls High School and
graduated in 1913.
In 1915, Mr. Kasai became a life insurance agent for the New York Life Insurance Company covering the states of Idaho and
Utah and worked on providing insurance for the local Japanese communities. By 1916 Mr. Kasai was a successful agent living
in Utah and was becoming integrally involved in the Salt Lake City community.
In 1937 Mr. Kasai married his wife, Alice, with whom he had six children. Mrs. Kasai was born in Seattle, Washington, but
re-entered the United States in 1922 as a Kibei (Japanese Americans born in the U.S. who returned to America after being educated
in Japan) from Saga Ken Miyake-Gun, Minobara-Mura.
During World War II, Mr. Kasai was interned for two years, first in Missoula, Montana, then in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, next in
Camp Livingston, Louisiana, and, finally, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
By 1945 he had returned to Salt Lake City, Utah and had resumed his leadership role in community activities, particularly
as an emissary between the American and Japanese cultures. In 1954, Mr. Kasai became an American citizen.
The collection documents the activities of Henry Yoshihiko Kasai and, to a lesser extent, his wife. Alice Kasai. Included
are documents and records related to Mr. Kasai's personal and business affairs. Among the material are correspondence, photographs,
printed material, newspaper clippings, articles, and business records. Of particular interest are documents related to Mr.
Kasai's immigration to the United States and his internment during World War II.
Arranged in the following series:
- Baseball clubs, 1935-1964, subseries A-C by club
- Cultural Exchange, 1950-1965
- Japanese American Citizens League, 1933-1964
- Japanese Association of Utah, 1926-1940
- Salt Lake City Nisei Victory Committee, 1943-1947
- Sino-Japanese Relations, 1929-1943
- Yoshiko Kasai, 1904-1972, subseries A-B.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Kasai, Yoshihiko---Archives
Kasai, Alice---Archives
Japanese American Research Project (University of California, Los Angeles)
Insurance agents---Utah---Salt Lake City
Japanese American families---Utah---Salt Lake City---Archival resources
Japanese Americans---Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945
Manzanar War Relocation Center Records (Collection 122)
. Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library.
Japanese American Research Project Collection of Material about Japanese in the United States (Collection 2010)
. Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library.