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Kikuchi (Charles) papers
LSC.1259
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Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Charles Kikuchi papers
Creator:
Kikuchi, Charles
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.1259
Physical Description:
29.0 Linear Feet
(58 boxes and 4 oversize boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1941-1988
Abstract: Charles Kikuchi (1917-
) worked for the California State Employment Service, surveying Nisei occupations. He was
recruited by Berkeley sociologist Dorothy Swaine Thomas for the Japanese Evacuation and
Relocation Study (JERS). He began to keep a diary and completed field surveys at the
Tanforan Assembly Center in Northern California and at the Gila River Relocation Center in
Arizona and in 1943 chronicled camp resident settlement in Chicago. He was drafted into the
United States Army just before the bombing of Hiroshima. The collection consists of Charles
Kikuchi's diaries, correspondence, and related printed material about Japanese Americans and
their relocation during World War II. Many diaries include clippings and programs related to
the career of Kikuchi's wife, Yuriko Amemiya, a professional dancer and a member of Martha
Graham's dance group.
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
PORTIONS OF THIS COLLECTION HAVE BEEN DIGITIZED. See the Existence and Location of Copies
note for the link to the digitized materials.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical 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], Charles Kikuchi papers (Collection 1259). UCLA Library Special
Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
- Gift of Charles Kikuchi, 1981-83.
- Gift of Yuriko Kikuchi, 1991.
- Gift of Warren Tsuneishi, 1981.
- Gift of Arthur Hansen, 1989.
Processed by UCLA Library Special Collections staff. Additions processed by Dydia DeLyser,
January 1989 and Dan Luckenbill, January 1998.
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.
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in Library Special Collections.
Finding aid and digital representations of archival material funded in part by a grant from
the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA).
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
9942332553606533
Kikuchi was born in 1917 in the San Francisco Bay Area; his father was an Issei barbershop
owner; he was placed in an orphanage when he was 8 years old; in 1934 he headed for San
Francisco; BA, San Francisco State College, 1939; anonymously published an autobiographical
essay, A Young American with a Japanese Face, in Louis Adamic's anthology titled,
From Many Lands (1939); worked for the California State Employment
Service, surveying Nisei occupations; attended School of Social Welfare, University of
California, Berkeley, and received certificate in social work in 1942; recruited by Berkeley
sociologist Dorothy Swaine Thomas for the Japanese Evacuation and Relocation Study (JERS);
Kikuchi began to keep a diary and completed field surveys at the Tanforan Assembly Center in
Northern California and at the Gila River Relocation Center in Arizona; began chronicling
camp resident settlement in Chicago, 1943; he was drafted into the United States Army just
before the bombing of Hiroshima; received master's degree in social work, New York
University (NYU), 1947; worked as a social worker with the Veterans Administration, New
York; married Yuriko Amemiya, a professional dancer, in 1946; died September 25, 1988.
Collection consists of Charles Kikuchi's diaries, correspondence, and related printed
material about Japanese Americans and their relocation during World War II. Includes 63
volumes of Kikuchi's original diaries, May 1942-June 1948. Copy diaries span the years
1941-79. Also includes materials related to Kikuchi's work and surveys for the Japanese
Evacuation and Relocation Study (JERS) and his study of Japanese American relocation to
Chicago, Illinois. Contains various War Relocation Authority (WRA) publications, National
Defense Migration reports, various issues of the Gila News Courier, and related
publications. Many diaries include clippings and programs related to the career of Kikuchi's
wife, Yuriko, a professional dancer and a member of Martha Graham's dance group.
Arranged in the following series:
- Original diaries (Boxes 1-10).
- Copy diaries (Boxes 11-44).
- Loose items from diaries (Box 56).
- Correspondence and writings (Boxes 45, 57-60, 62).
- Japanese Evacuation and Relocation Study (JERS) (Boxes 46-49, 54).
- Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play (Box 54).
- Photographs and biographical data (Box 54).
- Printed material (Boxes 50-53, 62).
- Relocation center news publications (Box 55).
- Reports (Box 61).
- Proclamation documents (Box 61).
Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online:
Japanese American Research Project collection
of material about Japanese in the United States (Yuji Ichioka papers)(LSC.2010).
Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Diaries.
Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945
Gila River Relocation Center
Kikuchi, Charles--Archives.
Tanforan Assembly Center (San Bruno, Calif.)
Yuriko, 1920- .
- Collection Overview
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Collection Details
- Restrictions on Access
- Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
- Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
- Preferred Citation
- Provenance/Source of Acquisition
- Processing Information
- Funding
- UCLA Catalog Record ID
- Biography/History
- Scope and Content
- Organization and Arrangement
- Online Items Available
- Related Material