The collection documents family history in Japan and in America and consists of photographs, documents and genealogical charts. There are also original audio recordings of Japanese poetry recitations and a transcript of an oral history interview relating to the internment of Japanese Americans.
Scope and Contents note:
This collection consists of genealogical and historical information about the Kamikawa, Omata, and Matsumoto families and their descendants compiled by Hiroko Kamikawa Omata. The materials include ancestry charts, copies of photographs, letters, interviews, and copies of official documents such as diplomas, naturalization papers, as well as announcements regarding the internment of Japanese-American citizens during World War II. The collection was arranged by the donor, and the Archives Center has maintained this arrangement. All dates in this collection refer to the original creation date of the collected materials. The family papers were originally amassed in 2004 and were edited in 2006.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into two series.
Series 1: Kamikawa, Omata and Matsumoto Families Papers, 1850-2006, undated
Series 2: Oral History Interview, 2004
Biographical/Historical note:
: Four Kamikawa brothers, Riichi, Mitsuiji, Masuichi and Koichi, emigrated from Japan to Fresno, California, just before the turn of the twentieth century. They married and started a merchant business, Kamikawa Brothers, which operated in Fresno, Selma, San Francisco and Del Rey, California, and in Japan. The brothers expanded the business to include banking, a hotel, grocery, restaurant, public bath, vineyard and other enterprises. During World War II, family members were interned at a camp in Arkansas. After the war many settled in New Jersey and Maryland.
Members of the Omata family -- a brother, George, and two sisters, also immigrated to California in the 1890s, though the sisters eventually returned to Japan. George established grocery and dry good stores in Hanford, California, and was successful in securing day laborers for community businesses. George's son, Robert, married Hiroko, the daughter of Masuichi Kamikawa, in 1948. Some members of the Omata family also were interned, and they too eventually settled on the East Coast.
The Matsumoto family was a well-to-do family in Japan. They were involved in the production of fertilizer and steel. Katsu (Kazu) Masimoto was the wife of Masuichi Kamikawa, and mother of Hiroko Kamikawa Omata.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center
Bishop Mitsumyo Tottori Memorial Notebooks (NMAH.AC.0926)
Japanese American Documentary Collection (NMAH.AC.0305)
Gerald Lamboley Collection of Japanese-American Letters (NMAH.AC.0450)
Catherine Hann Papers (NMAH.AC.0921)
Juanita Tamayo Lott Filipino American Photographs and Papers (NMAH.AC.0925)
Provenance:
Collection donated by Hiroko Omata, 2006.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research and access on site by appointment. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
These materials are arranged chronologically and include information about Marutani's life and professional activities. The series includes information about his time in the Army, his association with Tule Lake, his work on the Loving v. Virginia case, photographs, a plaque from the Tule Lake Reunion Committee, and lecture research and notes.
Scope and Contents:
Papers mostly relating to Marutani's activism on behalf of former inmates of Japanese American internment camps during World War II, including: papers relating to Marutani's service with the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, notes, facts and copies of historic documents he gathered; correspondence with former internees; photographs of camps and internees; legislative and litigative materials; and papers relating to Marutani's own wartime and post-war experiences.
This collection documents Marutani's activism on behalf of former Japanese American internment camp residents. Included are papers relating to Marutani's involvement with the CWRIC, notes, research, and photocopies of historic documents; correspondence; photographs of camps and internees; and legislative and litigation materials. Also, there are papers relating to Marutani's own wartime and post-war experiences.
Series 1: Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC), 1940-1990
These materials relate to the investigation by the Commission and the response to the results. Series one is divided into two subseries: Correspondence, 1980-1984 and Reference Materials, 1942-1990. The correspondence is in the original order that Marutani created and relates to research, communications between Commission members, and reactions to the Commission's findings. The reference materials also include research done in affiliation with the Commission.
Series Two: William M. Marutani Papers, 1942-2003
Arrangement:
Collection arranged into one series.
Biographical / Historical:
William M. Marutani, a second generation Japanese American, was born in Kent, Washington. In the fall of 1941, he enrolled in courses at the University of Washington, but was forced to leave because of Executive Order 9066, which initiated the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans. Marutani was taken to Fresno Assembly Center in the spring of 1942, and three months later was transferred to Tule Lake concentration camp, where he spent an additional three months. At the age of 20, he volunteered for the armed forces but was denied because of his Japanese ancestry. However, in 1944, he was inducted into a military intelligence school and later sent to Japan where he served in the Counter Intelligence Corps. In 1953, Marutani graduated from the University of Chicago Law School and joined the firm of MacCoy, Evans, and Lewis. He provided legal counsel for the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) and presented arguments in Loving v. Virginia, the ruling that struck down anti-miscegenation laws. In 1981, President Jimmy Carter appointed Marutani to the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC). This commission was created to investigate the incarceration of Japanese Americans and reparations for that action. Marutani was the only Japanese American to serve on the Commission. Based on his recommendations, Congress issued a payment with an apology to those affected. Marutani accepted the apology from President George Bush but refused the payment. Marutani passed away on November 15, 2004, at the age of 81.
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center by Marutani's widow, Victoria Marutani, in 2005.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Concentration camps -- 1942-1945 -- United States Search this
Japanese Americans -- Forced removal and internment -- 1942-1945 Search this
Genre/Form:
Correspondence -- 1950-2000
Photographs -- 20th century
Awards
Legal documents -- 1940-2000
Citation:
William M. Marutani Papers, 1942-2002, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
The papers of Matsumi Kanemitsu measure 3.1 linear feet and date from 1947-1998. The papers document Kanemitsu's career through biographical material; correspondence with friends, family, artists, universities, and galleries; professional files such as teaching files and work on juried shows; personal and business financial records; printed materials, photographs, and artwork.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Matsumi Kanemitsu measure 3.1 linear feet and date from 1947-1998. The papers document Kanemitsu's career through biographical material; correspondence with friends, family, artists, universities, and galleries; professional files such as teaching files and work on juried shows; personal and business financial records; printed materials, photographs, and artwork.
Biographical material includes resumes, contact and business cards, assorted notes written by Kanemitsu in English and Japanese, and National Geographic membership certificates. Correspondence consist of a mix of personal letters with family and friends, many of which were other artists, as well as professional letters with galleries, museums and colleagues in both English and Japanese. Noteable correspondence include the Akron Art museum, Harold Rosenberg, Harriet and Esteban Vicente, MOMA, Paul Jenkins, Peter Pollack, William De Kooning and others. Professional files document Kanemitsu's academic appoitments, roles serving on the exhibition jury for the Utah '88: Painting and Sculpture exhibition and as a Friends of Little Tokyo Arts (FOLTA) member, commission work and an application for the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. Personal business records include sale, consignment and loan recipets, shipping records, gallery correspondence and other documents related to the creation, commission and sale of Kanemitu's work such as artwork inventory lists, gallery consignment records and commission invoices. This series also includes records pertaining to Kanemitu's travel and buisness expenses, personal finances and art collecting. Printed Material includes exhibition announcements, invitations and catalogs, magazines, posters, a posthumous retrospective exhibition catalog written in English and Japanese, clippings in English and Japanese and other miscellaneous materials. Photographic Material primarily include photographs of Kanemitsu, his children and friends. Also found are photographs of artwork, miscellaneous photographs of a winter landscape, a house and street in Japan and two slides of artwork titled Phil. The artwork series consists of two small paintings by Kanemitsu as well as a childhood drawing by his daughter Patia Valazquez.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as seven series
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1947-1992 (0.4 Linear feet: Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1947-1992 (1.3 Linear feet: Box 1-2)
Series 3: Professional Files, circa 1961-1990 (0.3 Linear feet: Box 2)
Series 4: Personal Business , circa 1959-1991 (0.4 Linear feet: Box 3)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1961-1998 (0.5 Linear feet: Box 3, OV 1)
Series 6: Photographic Material, circa 1960-1992 (0.2 Linear feet: Box 3)
Series 7: Artwork, circa 1970s (2 Folders: Box 3)
Biographical / Historical:
Matsumi Kanemitsu (1922-1992), also known as Mike Kanemistu was a Japanese American painter based in both New York City, New York and Los Angeles, California. Although born in Utah, Kanemitsu lived in Japan until he was eighteen. In 1940 he returned to the United States, joining the Army in 1941. But after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was arrested and sent to a series of Army detention camps. With art supplies provided by the American Red Cross, he began to draw with pen and ink and pastels. Eventually, he was released and volunteered for overseas duty as a hospital assistant in Europe. His Army tour ended in 1946. After the war, he studied with Fernand Leger in Paris; with Kuniyoshi, Sternberg, and others at the Art Student's League in New York; and with sculptor Karl Metzler in Baltimore. A highly recognized second generation Abstract Expressionist in New York, Kanemitsu came to live permanently in Los Angeles after recieving a Ford Foundation Fellowship in 1961 to work at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop where he created a series of prints that translated sumi painting techniques into lithography. He exhibited widely throughout the United States, as well as Japan, and is work is owned by a number of public institutions in the United States and Japan. In addition to his practice, Kanemitsu also held professorial positions at a number of universities and art institutions including the University of California Berkely, the Chouinard Art Institute, amd the Otis Art Institute.
Provenance:
Donated 1994 and 1998 by Nancy Uyemura, Kanemitsu's former student, friend, and executor.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Japanese Americans -- Forced removal and internment -- 1942-1945 Search this
Citation:
Matsumi Kanemitsu papers, circa 1947-1998. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Robert Hanamura, circa 1977. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Frank S. Okada, 1990 Aug. 16-17. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America Search this
Type:
Interviews
Sound recordings
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Kay Sekimachi [Stocksdale], 2001 July 26-August 6. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Fuller, R. Buckminster (Richard Buckminster) Search this
Black Mountain College (Black Mountain, N.C.) Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Ruth Asawa and Albert Lanier, 2002 June 21-July 5. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The papers of Japanese American artists Hisako Hibi and Matsusaburo "George" Hibi measure 5.1 linear feet and date from circa 1906-2022. These papers are mainly focused on Hisako Hibi's life and career, with some content related to her husband Matsusaburo "George" Hibi. Included are biographical material consisting of immigration documents and interview transcripts; scrapbooks; printed material including catalogs and newspaper clippings; personal and professional correspondence; scattered records of works sold, loaned and donated; and a few sketches. Also found is Matsusaburo's handwritten account of founding the art school at Topaz incarceration camp along with other material related to the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
There is a 1.2 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2023 that includes sketchbooks by Hisako Hibi, a yearbook, letters to Hisako Hibi, printed material, and membership cards. Materials date from circa 1929-2000.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Japanese American artists Hisako Hibi and Matsusaburo "George" Hibi measure 5.1 linear feet and date from circa 1906-2022. These papers are mainly focused on Hisako Hibi's life and career, with some content related to her husband Matsusaburo "George" Hibi. Included are biographical material consisting of immigration documents and interview transcripts; scrapbooks; printed material including catalogs and newspaper clippings; personal and professional correspondence; scattered records of works sold, loaned and donated; and a few sketches. Also found is Matsusaburo's handwritten account of founding the art school at Topaz incarceration camp along with other material related to the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. A small addition to this collection consisting of letters (many handmade) to Hisako Hibi from friends and fellow artists was merged in with the rest of the correspondence.
There is a 1.2 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2023 that includes sketchbooks by Hisako Hibi, a yearbook, letters to Hisako Hibi, printed material, and membership cards. Materials date from circa 1929-2000.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 6 series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1906-circa 2020 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1922-2022 (1.2 linear feet; Boxes 1, 5-6)
Series 3: Exhibition Files, 1936-2005 (0.4 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 4: Scrapbooks, circa 1934-1985 (0.6 linear feet; Box 2)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1918-2019 (1.5 linear feet; Boxes 2-3, OV 4)
Series 6: Unprocessed Addition, circa 1929-2000 (1.2 linear feet; Boxes 7-8)
Biographical / Historical:
Hisako Hibi née Shimizu (1907-1991) was a Japanese American artist in Hayward and San Francisco, California. She was married to artist Matsusaburo "George" Hibi (1886-1947). Both artists were active members of the San Francisco Bay Area arts community. The two met at the California School of Fine Arts (renamed the San Francisco Art Institute, which closed in 2022) and married in 1930. They had two children, Satoshi and Ibuki. Both Hisako and Matsusaburo "George" Hibi exhibited their paintings widely.
In 1942, the entire Hibi family was forcibly removed and incarcerated at the Tanforan Assembly Center in California and subsequently the Topaz Relocation Center in Utah where they remained until the end of World War II. After the war, the family moved to New York City, where Matsusaburo "George" Hibi passed away in 1947. Hisako Hibi worked as a seamstress at a garment factory and later studied painting at the Museum of Modern Art. In the early 1950s, Hisako Hibi and her daughter Ibuki returned to San Francisco. Hisako Hibi continued to exhibit frequently in group and solo shows. She passed away in 1991.
Provenance:
The Hisako Hibi and Matsusaburo "George" Hibi papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in 2022 by Ibuki Hibi Lee, Hisako and Matsusaburo "George" Hibi's daughter. Additional material donated in 2023 by Amy Lee-Tai, Ibuki Lee's daughter.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Painters -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Printmakers -- California -- San Francisco Search this
An interview of Miyoko Ito conducted 1978 July 20, by Dennis Barrie, for the Archives of American Art.
Ito discusses her family background; being in Japan at an early age, attending school and learning calligraphy; returning to California in 1928; excelling in drawing and painting; attending Berkeley High School; studying watercolor at Berkeley School of Water Color; studying under Erle Loran, Worth Ryder, John Haley; the influence of Hans Hofmann; being in internment camp (Camp Rann); attending Smith College, Northampton to study painting under instructor George Cohen; attending the Art Institue of Chicago and meeting Francis Chapin and Joan Mitchell; being influenced by Bonnard; moving into lithography at Oxbow; studying under Max Kahn; doing printmaking and etching; and participating in the Momentum Shows. Ito mentions Ynez Johnston, Leonard Edmondson, Lionel Venturi, Ellen Lanyon, Don Baum, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and Vera Berdich.
Biographical / Historical:
Miyoko Ito (1918-1983) was a Japanese American painter based in Chicago, Illinois.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 tape reel (5 in.).
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
