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Cal State University, Fullerton
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P.O.Box 6846
Fullerton, CA 92834 - 6846
Office: Pollak Library South (PLS) 363

714 278-3580
COPH@fullerton.edu

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Reading Room/Archives and Thesis Binding: Mon. through Fri. 9am-4:30pm
 
JAPANESE-AMERICAN HISTORY COLLECTION

A through F

G through L

M through R

S through Z


GILLESPIE, Mary (1895—   ) (full text)
O. H. 1345
Interviewer:                David J. Bertagnoli
Date:                          July 14, 1973
Status:                        Completed 1977, 13 pp., index, photo
Tape length:                15 min.

Longtime resident of Independence, California recounts impressions of Manzanar War Relocation Center including description, treatment of internees, local employees in camp, impact on local economy, personal attitude toward internees, Manzanar Riot, and postwar usage of Manzanar facilities.

 

GRIFFITIL, Duff (1927- ) 
O. H. 1365
Interviewer:                Betty E. Mitson
Date:                          September 21, 1973
Status:                        Completed 1977, 47 pp.,
                                   index, photo
Tape length:                2 hrs.

Girlhood memories of Japanese house servants in home of United States Territory of Hawaii governmental officer during pre—World War II period. Details respect of martial law on Hawaiian Islands; personal reactions to Japanese—American evacuation; and Japanese community in Brazil.


 

HAlLEY, M. L. (1894— )  (full text)
O. H. 1606
Interviewer:                Jon McGraw
Date:                          April 8, 1978
Status:                        Transcribed, 33 pp.
Tape length:                1 hr. 20 min.

Wartime Parker, Arizona resident reminisces on the town’s reaction to Poston War Relocation Center, growth of area since 1940, his personal reaction to the camp, his thoughts on the internees’ development of agriculture in the area.

 

HARRY, Frank (1929—  )  (full text)
O. H. 1395
Interviewer:                Arthur A. Hansen and David J. Bertagnoli
Date:                          December 20, 1973
Status:                        Completed 1977, 11 pp., index, photo
Tape length:                30 min.

Lifetime resident of Inyo County, California notes impressions of Manzanar War Relocation Center; automobile caravan of voluntary evacuees; internees fishing back of camp; brother—in— law’s employment as military police guard at Manzanar War Relocation Center; and Nisei soldiers in postwar United States Army.

 

HAYASHI, Ken (1918— ) 
O. H. 1323
Interviewer:                Arthur A. Hansen and Ilene Wiederhorn
Date:                          August 3 and 11, 1976
Status:                        Edited, 24 pp.
Tape length:                1 hr. 30 min.

A Japanese American Citizens League activist, editor, and real estate broker gives biographical information and prewar climate of Japanese in the northwestern United States. Compares Pinedale Assembly Center and Tule Lake War Relocation Center with emphasis on camp newspapers; Kibei faction and Nisei leadership at Tule Lake War Relocation Center; and postwar position of the Japanese in Orange County, California.

 

HENDRIX, Isaac Osmon  (1909 )  (full text)
O. H. 1607
Interviewer:                Phyllis Jutagir
Date:                          April 8 and 26, 1978
Status:                        Not transcribed
Tape length:                1 hr. 10 min.

An Arizona resident since 1927 and retired employee of the Bureau of Indian Affairs describes the Poston War Relocation Center in Arizona; personal and community reaction to it; layout of camp; construction of barracks; development of irrigation project; farming by internees; Italian and German prisoners of war in area, and closing of the camp.

 

HOLMES, Hannah Tomiko Takagi (1927—  )
O. H. 1476
Interviewer:                Arthur A. Hansen
Date:                          August 27, 1981; February 8, 1982
Status:                        Not transcribed
Tape length:                3 hrs. 30 min.

A deaf Nisei teacher recalls her education at the California School for the Deaf at Berkeley, California; evacuation to Manzanar War Relocation Center in eastern California; transfer to Tule Lake War Relocation/Segregation Center in northern California; resettlement in Chicago and attendance at the Illinois School for the Deaf from 1944—1948; return to California and postwar experiences as a teacher of upholstery and power sewing; and redress movement activities.

 

HOPKINS, Jack B. (1908—)  (full text)
0.H. 1394
Interviewer:                Arthur A. Hansen and David J. Bertagnoli
Date:                          December 20, 1973
Status:                        Completed 1976, 20 pp., index, photos
Tape length:                35 min.

Longtime Inyo County, California business and civic leader recounts impressions of Manzanar War Relocation Center; economic impact of camp on the community of Lone Pine, California; local attitudes toward camp; administrative staff; and internment policy.

 

HORA, Yoshio (1930—   )
O. H. 1618
Interviewer:               Joseph Manly
Date:                          September 18, 1976
Status:                        Edited, 15 pp.
Tape length:               30 min.

A Nisei, native of Watsonville, California, describes reaction to Pearl Harbor; evacuation to Salinas, California rodeo grounds assembly area; relocation to Poston War Relocation Center in Arizona; and camp life as seen by a young boy. Comments on family’s resettlement in Colorado, present views on the relocation, and possible reparations.

 

HORI, Soichiro (1919—  )   (full-text)
O. H. 1337
Interviewer:                Paula Erickson
Date:                          July 16, 1973
Status:                        Completed 1974, 22 pp., index, photo
Tape length:                60 min.

Kibei interviewee was seventeen years old when he first learned English language. Interned with family at Manzanar War Relocation Center, California he later worked as a civilian Japanese language teacher for the United States Navy.

 

IHARA, Craig Kei (1943—  )  (full text)
O. H. 1230
Interviewer:                Betty E. Mitson
Date:                          December 18, 1972
Status:                        Completed 1977, 40 pp., index, photo
Tape length:                1 hr. 45 min.

Sansei California State University, Fullerton philosophy professor, born at Rohwer Relocation Center, Arkansas discusses family history, focusing on religion, education, aspirations, and cultural heritage; and recent overnight stay at old Rohwer campsite.

 

ISHIDA, Frank Kiyoshi (1939—   )   (full-text)
O. H. 1338
Interviewer:                Robert M. Kasper
Date:                          July 18, 1973
Status:                        Completed 1977, 20 pp., index, photo
Tape length:                1 hr. 10 min.

Sansei insurance agent discusses family history including immigration from Hiroshima Ken, arranged marriage, produce business, internment at Manzanar War Relocation Center, California, and father’s service as interpreter with the United States Army in the Philippines.

 

ISHIDA, Seiko (1910—  )   (full-text)
O. H. 1339
Interviewer:                Arthur A. Hansen
Date:                          August 6, 1974
Status:                        Completed 1977, 45 pp., index, photos
Tape length:                2 hrs.

Retired Kibei teacher recounts samurai parents’ background and their immigration to Seattle, Washington; socioeconomic composition of Seattle’s Japanese community; earlier teacher training; prewar stays in Japan as a child and as a tutor in a missionary family; experiences as a teacher in the wartime resettlement in New York; and postwar return to Los Angeles.

 

ISHII, Amy Uno (1920—1981)  
O. H. 1342a
Interviewer:                Betty E. Mitson
Date:                          July 9, 1973
Status:                        Completed 1978, 16 pp.
Tape length:                60 min.
Bound as one volume, O. H. 1342a and O. H. l342b, 57 pp., index, photos

President of the Hollywood, California chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League relates family history prior to World War II; discusses attendance of her parents at  missionary schools in Japan and their immigration to the United States early in the twentieth century. Comments upon an uncle, Domoto Takanoshin, who was the first Japanese to obtain a United States patent, owned North American Mercantile Company [NAMCO], and was instrumental in several family immigrations.

 

ISHII, Amy Uno (1920—1981) 
O. H. 1342b
Interviewer:                Kristen Mitchell
Date:                          July 20,         1973
Status:                        Completed 1978, 34 pp.
Tape length:                2 hrs.
Bound as one volume, O. H. 1342a and O. H. 1342b, 57 pp., index, photos

Nisei activist woman discusses prewar employment as “schoolgirl” domestic; Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and evacuation; father’s work as Department of Agriculture entomologist and subsequent detention in five enemy alien camps; life in Santa Anita Assembly Center, California and Heart Mountain War Relocation Center, Wyoming; resettlement to Chicago, Illinois; and her return to Los Angeles, California in 1946.

 

ISHII, Charles (1916—  )
O. H. 1757
Interviewer:                Arthur A. Hansen
Date:                          August 18, 1981
Status:                        Transcribed, 73 pp.
Tape length:                3 hrs.

Nisei businessman and former councilman from pioneering Fountain Valley Japanese—American community in Orange County, California provides an overview of the prewar community in that county, including the immigration of his parents to this country from Fukuoka, Japan; his father Kyutaro’s experiences as a farmer; the establishment of an institutional structure by Japanese Americans in Orange County; the coming of age of the Nisei generation in the county; his wartime experiences as a sergeant in the armed forces; and the postwar changes experienced by himself and the Orange County Japanese—American community.


 

ISHIKAWA, Michael (1944— ) 
O. H. 132
Interviewer:                Robert Ferea
Date:                          August 25, 1976
Status:                        Edited, 34 pp.
Tape length:                60 min.

Sansei born in Colorado at the Granada War Relocation Center and raised in San Diego, California, and a Japanese American Citizens League activist in southern California discusses his childhood in an Anglo neighborhood; his education; work with the Office of Economic Opportunity; his role in JACL; and concern for loss of Japanese culture among Japanese Americans.

 

IWATSURU, Yoneko Dobashi (1912— )  (full-text)
O. H. 1753
Interviewer:                 Diane Tappey
Date:                          January 19, 1984
Status:                        Transcribed, 45 pp.
Tape length:                2 hrs.

Nisei woman describes childhood years as one of five children in the only family of Japanese ancestry in the community of Yorba Linda, California; her parents’ experiences as immigrants from Wakayama prefecture in Japan; family farming; educational experiences as classmate of former president Richard M. Nixon; evacuation to Santa Anita Assembly Center in Los Angeles and Rohwer War Relocation Center in Arkansas; return to Yorba Linda and reaction of community residents toward her family; postwar adjustment and work as teacher’s aide.

 

JOHNSON, E. C. (1912—  )  (full text)
O. H. 1610
Interviewer:                David A. Hacker and Arthur A. Hansen
Date:                          March 23, 1978
Status:                        Not transcribed
Tape length:                60 min.

Longtime Arizona resident and businessman in Parker, Arizona since 1941 comments upon personal and community reaction to nearby Poston War Relocation Center; the building of the camp; facilities for internees; impact of the camp on the town of Parker; and the necessity for the evacuation.

 

JONES, Robert L. (ca. 1920—  )  (full text)
O. H. 1351
Interviewer:                Sherry Turner
Date:                          August 25, 1973
Status:                        Completed 1976, 10 pp., index
Tape length:                25 min.

City clerk of Tulelake, California recalls wartime experiences as a farmer living near a relocation/segregation center.

 

JOSEPH, Ethelyne (ca. 1910—   ) 
O. H. 1385
Interviewer:                David J. Bertagnoli
Date:                          October 4, 1973
Status:                        Completed 1976, 11 pp., index, photos
Tape Length:              15 min.

Wife of a prominent Inyo County, California grocer discusses the economic impact of nearby Manzanar War Relocation Center on the community of Lone Pine; also comments on attitude of area citizens toward wartime evacuation of Japanese Americans, internees at Manzanar, and 1973 historical campsite marker.

 

KAIHARA, Rodney (1941— )   (full-text)
O. H. 1277
Interviewer:                Patricia Morgan
Date:                          March 25, 1973
Status:                        Completed 1977, 22 pp., index
Tape length:                1 hr. 20 min.

A Sansei landscape architect raised in Orange County, California analyzes life since childhood at Poston War Relocation Center, Arizona. Discusses prejudice in a Mexican—American community, interracial dating, effects of broken home, attitude toward dominant culture, cultural stereotype, and effects of evacuation.

 

KAMEI, Shizu (1899—   )  (full-text)
O. H. 1755
Interviewer:                Toni Rimel and Masako Hanada
Date:                          January 23, 1984
Status:                         Not transcribed
Tape length:                3 hrs. (Japanese and English)

Issei pioneer woman from Wakayama prefecture, Japan details family life in Japan; immigration to the United States in 1917; marriage in 1922; life pattern of those living in the Japanese— American community in Orange County, California; and World War II evacuation to Poston War Relocation Center in Arizona.

 

KANEGAE, Henry (1918— )   (full-text)
O. H.
Interviewer:                Richard D. Curtiss
Date:                          February 12, 1966
Status:                        Completed 1977, 29 pp., index
Tape length:                60 min.

Nisei from pioneering Orange County, California family discusses his experiences as block manager at Poston War Relocation Center; the role of Bureau of Indian Affairs in camp administration; an internee strike; and camp agricultural program. Comments on recent trip to old Poston, Arizona campsite.

 

KANEKO, Hyotaro (ca. 1890—  )  (full-text)
O. H. 1759
Interviewer:                Marsha Bode and Yukiko Sato
Date:                          January 24, 1984
Status:                        Completed 1985, 65 pp., index, photos
Tape length:                1 hr. 30 min. (Japanese and English)

Issei farmer from prewar Seal Beach Japanese—American community in Orange County, California recalls family life in Fukashima prefecture in Japan; immigration experiences to United States in 1915; work experiences in Utah and Wyoming prior to settlement in Seal Beach; activities of the Hellman and Bixby ranch farm association; wartime internment in alien camps in Lordsburg, New Mexico and Crystal City, Texas; postwar resettlement experiences in Japan; return to United States in 1955; farming experiences in Texas and ultimate settlement in Los Angeles, California.

 

KANEKO, Mine (1904—  )  (full-text)
O. H. 1760
Interviewer:                Marsha Bode and Yukiko Sato
Date:                          January 26, 1984
Status:                        Completed 1985, 71 pp., index, photos
Tape length:                1 hr. 15 min. (Japanese and English)

Issei woman, born in Fukashima prefecture, Japan discusses her life in Japan, her reasons for coming to the United States, life in Wyoming upon arrival, and move to southern California. Emphasizes life experiences of her family in pre—World War II community of Seal Beach, California as viewed from the perspective of a woman, including her reactions and response to the internment of her husband after Pearl Harbor.

 

KANNO, George (1924— )  (full-text)
O. H. 10
Interviewer:                Richard D. Curtiss
Date:                          February 25, 1966
Status:                        Completed 1976, 19 pp., index
Tape length:                30 min.

A Nisei resident of a pioneer Orange County, California family describes his father’s arrest by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; status of family property during internment at Poston War Relocation Center, Arizona; and temporary release to Colorado to work for local farmers.

 

KANNO, James (1926—  )   (full-text)
O. H. 1069
Interviewer:                John McFarlane
Date:                          April 26, 1971
Status:                        Completed 1976, 26 pp., index
Tape length:                1 hr. 30 min.

Nisei member of a pioneer Orange County, California family and first mayor of Japanese ancestry on mainland United States——in Fountain Valley, California——describes Poston War Relocation Center in Arizona; temporary release to Colorado; orderly work at University of Michigan Hospital; wartime education at Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and experiences as president of Japanese American Citizens League chapter in Orange County; and involvement in area politics.

 

KANNO, Maki (1898—  )  (full-text)
O. H. 1761
Interviewer:                Toni Rimel and Masako Hanada
Date:                          November 30, 1983
Status:                        Not transcribed
Tape length:                3 hrs. 45 min. (Japanese and English)

Issei woman from Fukashima prefecture, Japan discusses life in Japan as a member of a samurai family; experiences as an interning midwife in Tokyo; 1923 marriage; immigration experiences to the United States; settlement in Orange County, California; prewar and postwar family and community life in Orange County; and World War II evacuation to Poston War Relocation Center in Arizona.

 

KELLY, Anna T. (ca. 1910—   ) 
O. H. 1401
Interviewer:                Arthur A. Hansen and David J. Bertagnoli
Date:                          December 6, 1973
Status:                        Completed 1974, 25 pp., index, photo
Tape length:                50 min.

Former welfare director of Inyo County, California recollects experiences as first—aider for firm insuring the five construction companies that built the nearby Manzanar War Relocation Center; social and economic impact of camp on local area; early conditions of the camp; and response to the wording of historical marker placed at Manzanar in 1973.

 

KELLY, Bette (ca. 1920—   ) (full text)
O. H. 1352
Interviewer:                Sherry Turner
Date:                          August 26, 1973
Status:                        Completed 1977, 11 pp., index
Tape length:                30 min.

Former postal clerk at Tule Lake internment camp in California relates impressions of life there, and status of land and buildings after closure.

 

KIKUCHI, Kenji (1898—  )   (full-text)
O. H. 1758
Interviewer:                Arthur A. Hansen
Date:                          August 26, 1981
Status:                        Transcribed, 97 pp.
Tape length:                4 hrs.

Former minister of Wuntersburg Presbyterian Church in Orange County, California discusses in depth his ministerial work in the Japanese—American community; the makeup, social, and religious structure of the community in the l920s; childhood and youth in Miyagi prefecture, Japan; education in Japan prior to immigration to the United States in 1926; attendance at San Francisco and Princeton Theological Seminaries; prewar and postwar ministerial experiences in San Diego, California; Japan; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Hollywood, California; wartime evacuation to the assembly center at Azusa, California and Poston War Relocation Center in Arizona.

 

KIKUCHI, Yoriyuki (1886—  ) 
O. H. 1340
Interviewer:                Arthur A. Hansen
Date:                          July 29, 1974
Status:                        Completed 1977, 25 pp., index, photo
Tape length:                1 hr. 30 min.

Issei dentist residing in Los Angeles, California recollects boyhood in samurai family; immigration to America; early employment and education in southern California; prewar dental practice; role as head of dental services at Manzanar War Relocation Center; problems and personalities at Manzanar; and postwar experiences in Boyle Heights district of Los Angeles.

 

KING, Ruth E. (ca. 1910— )  (full text)
O. H. 1353
Interviewer:                Sherry Turner
Date:                          August 28, 1973
Status:                        Completed 1977, 13 pp., index, photos
Tape length:                40 min.

Correspondent for Herald and News of Klamath Falls, Oregon discusses problems relating to California Tule Lake War Re beat ion, Segregation Center.
 


KISHIYAMA, J. S. (1905—  ) and KISHIYAMA, K. (1918— )  (full-text)
O. H. 1272
Interviewer:                Patricia Morgan
Date:                          April 6, 1973
Status:                        Completed 1976, 21 pp., index
Tape length:                60 min.

Reflections of an elderly Orange County, California couple on their experiences in America. He recounts his years as an immigrant; she discusses her family background, makeup of Japanese—American community, and rural living.

 

KOBAYASHI, Irene M. (1933— )
O. H. 107
Interviewer:                Betty E. Mitson
Date:                          April 11, 1972
Status:                        Completed 1976, 39 pp., index, photo
Tape length:                1 hr. 40 min.

An Orange County, California Japanese American discusses her family’s experiences in Hawaii during World War II, including harassment by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, problems of dual citizenship, overt racism, and cultural suppression. Comments on integration, child rearing, and political activism in contemporary Orange County.

 

KOBAYASHI, Roy M. (1917— )
O. H. 132
Interviewer:                Don Niemeyer
Date:                          August 13, 1976
Status:                        Final typed, 21 pp.
Tape length:                50 min.

An Orange County, California Nisei discusses biographical information, internment, farming at Poston War Relocation Center in Arizona, and agriculture in Orange County.

 

KRATER, Katherine (1902— )  (full text)
O. H. 1329
Interviewer:                David J. Bertagnoli
Date:                          July 14, 1973
Status:                        Final typed, 17 pp.
Tape length:                35 min.

Wife of Independence, California grocer details events relating to Manzanar War Relocation Center: personal community reaction, camp visits, Manzanar Riot, Director Ralph Merritt, evacuation policy, and the 1973 historical marker placed at campsite.

 

KUNITSUGU, Kango (1924—  ) (full-text)
O. H. 1334a
Interviewer:                Sherry Turner
Date:                          August 4, 1973
Status:                        Edited, 60 pp.
Tape length:                2 hrs. 30 min.

Nisei civil engineer reflects on internment experience at Rohwer War Relocation Center in Arkansas, including concerns toward loyalty issue. Discusses role as manager of the Little Tokyo Redevelopment Project in Los Angeles.

 

KUNITSUGU, Kango (1924—  )   (full-text)
O. H. 1334b
Interviewer:                David Biniasz
Date:                          November 28, 1973
Status:                        Completed 1978, 9 pp., index
Tape length:                30 min.

Manager of the Little Tokyo Redevelopment Project in Los Angeles, California discusses wartime conversion of the area into the black community of Bronzeville; postwar reconversion into Japanese—American cultural, commercial, and spiritual center; anti—Japanese legislation; and prewar and postwar symbolic meaning of Little Tokyo.

 

KUNITSUGU, Katsumi (1925— )  (full-text)
O. H. 1333
Interviewer:                Sherry Turner
Date:                          July 15, 1973
Status:                        Completed 1977, 9 pp. index
Tape length:                2 hrs.

English section editor of Japanese vernacular newspaper in Los Angeles, the Maunichi, describes her brief childhood experiences as a Nisei in Japan; wartime internment at Heart Mountain War Relocation Center, Wyoming; and resettlement from camp to attend the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

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