Skip to content

OPEN TODAY: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.

Tickets

Visual Materials

Japanese student's Caltech photograph album

Image not available



You might also be interested in

  • Image not available

    Photograph album of a Japanese American soldier in the U.S. occupation forces in Japan

    Visual Materials

    A personal photo album compiled and annotated by a Japanese American serviceman who served in the U.S. occupation forces during the post-World War II occupation of Japan. The album begins with his departure from Hawaii to Japan in 1946, including one image of his old school, McKinley High School in Honolulu. In Tokyo, there are many photographs of fellow soldiers, as well as Japanese young men and women; buildings and landmarks; parks; and army buildings. Two images of a large building are described as General Douglas MacArthur's headquarters in Tokyo, and there is one image of him walking out of the building. Besides Tokyo, the soldier is seen in Kamakura and Otake, near Iwakuni, where he may have been stationed later. Of note are a few images of building destruction in Hiroshima, 1947, in the aftermath of the atomic bombing. At the back of the album are many single and group portraits of Japanese residents, possibly family members or acquaintances in Iwakuni and Otake. The album has handwritten captions in English, with occasional captions written in Japanese.

    photCL 667

  • Photograph album depicting the first group of Nisei students to attend the Waseda Kokusai Gakuin in Tokyo, 1935-1937

    Photograph album depicting the first group of Nisei students to attend the Waseda Kokusai Gakuin in Tokyo, 1935-1937

    Visual Materials

    This album contains 185 black and white silver gelatin photographs. All photographs have been glued to the pages, with captions. The photographs were compiled between 1935 and 1937 by a young Japanese American woman named Helen. The album documents Helen's experience as part of the first group of Nisei students to attend the Waseda Kokusai Gakuin in Tokyo. Photographs show going-away festivities in California and many identified groups and individuals on board the ship en route to Japan. Students are seen enjoying parties, including a shinnenkai (New Year's Party) at the student home; at the institute; and at a YWCA. There are some photographs of young men, presumably Japanese nationals, in military or school uniforms, as well as scenic views of the country and bonsai exhibits in Japan.

    photCL 610

  • Image not available

    Japanese occupation of Philippines photograph album

    Visual Materials

    A photographic regimental history of the Japanese Imperial Army, Watari Philippine Occupation Expeditionary Force, 14th Army unit assigned to the Philippines during World War II. The halftone photographs with captions in Japanese are printed on the album pages, along with a few maps. Written in Japanese inside the front cover: "Suzuki Unit / Matsushima Group / Matsumoto Division." Images include: Military posts throughout the Philippines; broken American and Filipino tanks in Tarlac; destroyed bridges and buildings; Nitsuba house near Antimonan; the Suzuki Division headquarters in San Miguel; Amato jin'ya, or "Confection Barracks/Fort Sweet-Tooth" hung with Japanese flags; group photographs of Japanese Army forces, and others. Also featured is a unit memorial service with a eulogy given by Army Commander Honma Masaharu, who led the Japanese invasion of the Philippines.

    photCL 735

  • Image not available

    Photograph album of Japanese American residents of California

    Visual Materials

    A photograph album dating from the early 1920s reflecting the life of an unidentified Japanese American family based in or near the agricultural community of Brawley, in Imperial County, California. "Brawley Bottling Works" crates are seen in an image of Japanese American farm workers, and other images include the interior of a canned goods store, agricultural workers and crops, farm trucks, and a man with plants in a greenhouse. The album contains snapshots of many different Japanese American men, women, and children, almost always dressed in fine Western clothing, seen in social gatherings in mostly rural settings, with some images of other locations. The album doesn't have any identifications, though recognizable locations in California are: the Sacramento Capitol building; the beach in Venice; a bookstore with a crate marked First Street, Los Angeles; and men posing with automobiles with license plates that say "CAL." Notable images are a group portrait of men clowning around while drinking beer, and ceremonial outdoor gatherings with American and Japanese flags flying. Photographs taken in Japan include a Christian church and school in the Tadanoumi area of Hiroshima Prefecture, and family groups with people wearing both Japanese and Western clothing.

    photCL 647

  • Image not available

    Photograph albums of a Japanese businessman's trip to the United States

    Visual Materials

    Two albums of photographs taken by a Japanese businessman of his trip to the United States in the early 1930s. The man appears to have been Yaroku Katayama, who was engaged in export trade in the 1930s and 1940s, and appears in a few photographs, including one aboard the passenger ship Taiyo Maru with Japanese parliamentarian Mitsuhashi Shiroji. The two small albums have many handwritten captions in Japanese, and a few in English. The date 1932 is written in two captions in both albums. The small black-and-white snapshots depict street scenes and scenery in Niagara Falls, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Chicago, and in Arizona, where he traveled by train on the Santa Fe Railway. One of the albums is primarily of scenes in Hawaii, especially Honolulu, where he stopped en route to his return to Japan.

    photCL 681

  • Image not available

    Alice S. Arikawa photograph album

    Visual Materials

    A photograph and scrapbook album compiled by Alice S. Arikawa, a young Japanese American woman in Los Angeles, California, that chronicles her youth from 1934 to 1942, just before the Japanese American internment during World War II. Snapshot photographs are pasted on black paper pages, with captions by Arikawa written in white pencil. Images depict Arikawa and friends at Lafayette Junior High School, then Jefferson High School (both in central Los Angeles), and participating in a wide range of social and school activities in and around the Los Angeles area. She and a diverse group of friends are seen on beach outings, going to Santa Anita Park, the Huntington Library gardens (four images), attending a formal dance, and horseback riding. Other subjects are her family, a business correspondence class in 1936, and activities with the Kalifans, a Y.W.C.A. social group. The album's last images are dated March 1942, just before Arikawa's incarceration at the Manzanar War Relocation Center. The album contains a graduation class portrait taken inside Manzanar, but it does not appear that Arikawa is part of this group (she graduated from high school in 1937). Ephemeral items include school programs, and an identification card belonging to Arikawa's brother, John, age 15.

    photCL 637