Elementos de identidad
Código de referencia
Nombre y localización del repositorio
Nivel de descripción
Colección
Título
Yasui family papers
Fecha(s)
- 1910-1995 (Creación)
- 1873-2023 (Creación)
Extensión
Full Collection physical extent: 19.76 cubic feet; 38 legal document cases; 2 flat boxes (14x18); 1 oversize flat box (19x25); 1 card file box (9x12x6); 1 small card file box (6x12x4); 1 oversize folder (24x36)
Nombre del productor
Historia biográfica
In 1903, seventeen-year-old Masuo Yasui left Nanukaichi in the Okayama prefecture of Japan for the western United States, stopping in Portland before he joined family members in working on the Union Pacific Railroad, along with thousands of other laborers from Japan. Two years later, Masuo returned to Japantown in Portland, Oregon, intent on learning English while working various jobs. Masuo later convinced his brother Renichi Fujimoto to move with him to Hood River, Oregon, which had a growing population of Japanese immigrant laborers. In 1908, Masuo Yasui and Renichi Fujimoto opened the Yasui Bros. Co. store in Hood River, the first iteration of what would become four locations of their successful business over the next three and a half decades.
A few years later, Masuo Yasui married Shidzuyo Miyake, a college-educated teacher also from Nanukaichi, Okayama, who joined him in Oregon in late 1912. Over the next two decades, the couple had nine children: sons Kay, sometimes spelled Kei (born 1914), Tsuyoshi, later known as Ray or Chop (born 1915), and Minoru, often known as Min (born 1917); daughters Yuki (born 1918) and Michi (born 1920); sons Roku (born 1922), Shu (born 1923), and Homer (born 1924); and youngest daughter Yuka (born 1927). Yuki died of an illness at age 3, and eldest son Kay committed suicide at age 17. Renichi Fujimoto married Matsuyo Senno in 1904, but obligations to Renichi's adoptive family in Japan, the Fujimotos, kept her from immigrating to the United States to join him until 1931. Renichi and Matsuyo had no children of their own, but were close with Masuo and Shidzuyo's children.
The Yasui Bros. Co. store played a central role as a social hub and meeting place for the Japanese American community in Hood River. Masuo became a vital contact for Japanese immigrants and their families. He frequently helped fellow Japanese Americans find employment and housing, and used his English fluency to assist with legal and government forms, such as citizenship documentation for children born in the United States, and to broker small land purchases. The Yasui Bros. store also sold life insurance and brokered steamship travel arrangements to and from Japan.
In addition to operating the store, the Yasuis took advantage of the agricultural potential in the Hood River Valley and surrounding areas, where they bought and leased land for their own farms and orchards in Dee, Mosier, and Willow Flat. Like many in the area, they produced apples and pears, but also strawberries and asparagus, which the Yasuis and other Japanese American farmers introduced to the region. Their farming operations spawned trucking and shipping businesses, and Masuo Yasui created a cooperative called the Mid-Columbia Vegetable Growers Association to help with packing and shipping of asparagus.
Masuo Yasui also served as a liaison between the Japanese American and white communities in Hood River, fielding inquiries from business owners in search of laborers and helping to settle disputes. Over time, Masuo grew into a leading representative of his community, founding the Japanese Savings Association of Hood River and constructing and operating a Japanese Community Hall, while also being a rare Japanese American member in mostly white organizations like the Rotary Club. He was the first Japanese American person elected to the powerful Apple Growers Association and received the most votes of any candidate in 1939. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Masuo Yasui was recognized by the Portland Japanese Consulate for his services to his community, and received awards from the Japanese government and other agencies for fostering business relations between the United States and Japan.
However, as the Yasuis and other Japanese immigrants prospered, anti-Japanese sentiment was growing among white residents in Hood River. In 1923, Oregon passed a bill preventing Japanese and Chinese immigrants from owning land, and a local Anti-Asiatic Association formed soon after. Anti-Japanese sentiment came to a boiling point after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The FBI arrested Masuo Yasui, then 55, five days later with no official charges or evidence of treason. He would remain in government detention until after the end of the war, and was repeatedly transferred among various federal detention centers, including Fort Missoula, Montana; Fort Sill, Oklahoma; and Camp Livingston, Louisiana.
In February 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing exclusion of "any and all persons" from areas designated by the military, which would, within months, result in the government's forced removal and mass incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans on the West Coast. In March, after being refused for U.S. military enlistment, Minoru Yasui, who had become a lawyer and was living in Portland, Oregon, deliberately violated a curfew imposed on Japanese Americans in order to be arrested and establish the basis for a legal challenge to the curfew. He was convicted and spent nine months in solitary confinement; during this time, his case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, but the court upheld his conviction and ruled that the curfew was legal.
The Yasui family's situation would continue to worsen; in the spring of 1942, the Yasui Bros. Co. store was forcibly closed and the family's other assets were frozen or confiscated. Not long afteward, Yasui family members were among the Japanese Americans sent by the U.S. government to incarceration camps, euphemistically called "war relocation centers," which were typically located in dry and desolate locations. While Masuo was held in Louisiana and Min was in solitary confinement in the Multnomah County Jail, Shidzuyo, Renichi, Matsuyo, Ray (also known as Chop or Tsuyoshi) and his wife, Mickie, as well as young Homer and Yuka, were sent first to the temporary Pinedale Assembly Center near Fresno, California, then to the Tule Lake incarceration camp. Min appealed unsuccessfully to the government for his father to join the rest of the family as Shidzuyo and other family members and friends wrote letters pleading for a rehearing, but all requests were denied. In June 1943, Masuo was transferred to the Santa Fe Detention Center in New Mexico, where his family could finally request to visit him. By this time, Minoru Yasui and Renichi and Matsuyo Fujimoto were being held at the Minidoka War Relocation Center in southern Idaho. Roku, Michi, and Shu Yasui, college students at the time, had avoided incarceration through geographical location or preemptive travel to Denver, Colorado.
Life in the camps was difficult for most of those incarcerated; families were largely separated, food was bad and extreme elements pierced the shoddily constructed barracks. The Yasuis wrote letters to each other through this period and visited Masuo as often as possible. Ray secured a work leave to do farm labor in Idaho, while Shidzuyo successfully petitioned for educational releases for her younger children; they joined Michi in Denver, where Minoru also came after his release in fall 1944. Despite an active letter-writing campaign with the support of senators and the Japanese American Citizens League, Masuo was detained until January 1946, five months after Japan surrendered and the war was declared to have ended. He joined the rest of the family in Denver upon his release.
As was the case for many other Japanese Americans, incarceration caused the Yasuis to lose their home, savings, businesses, and all but one of their farms, and they never regained what they once had. Hood River made national headlines toward the end of the war for its virulent racism and antagonism toward Japanese American residents to deter them from returning to the area, and the local post of the American Legion had waged a campaign against Masuo's release. Masuo and Shidzuyo left Denver to return to Oregon but resettled in Portland instead; only Ray Yasui returned to Hood River, to restore the now disheveled orchard in Willow Flat. In 1952, at their first opportunity to do so under federal law, the Issei (first generation) of Yasuis became United States citizens. Five years later, in declining health, Masuo died by suicide at the age of 70; Shidzuyo passed away of natural causes three years after his death. The second generation of Yasuis, the Nisei, built successful careers as lawyers, doctors, teachers, and entrepreneurs. Minoru Yasui's experiences during World War II led him to a lifelong career as a civil rights activist, for which he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. His siblings were also active in civil rights causes and served as strong advocates for redress in the 1980s, and led organizations including the Japanese American Citizens League, the Nikkei Legacy Center, and the Min Yasui Legacy Project.
Área de contenido y estructura
Alcance y contenido
Digitized selections from a larger collection that documents the lives and activities of three generations of the Yasui family, particularly the first generation (the Issei) who immigrated from Japan to Oregon in the early 1900s, and the second generation, the Nisei. Major topics represented the collection overall include the experience of the Issei -- Masuo Yasui, Shidzuyo (Miyake) Yasui, and Renichi Fujimoto -- as immigrants to the United States; the family's business and community activities in Hood River, Oregon, through 1942; family members' experiences of forced removal and incarceration during World War II; the Nisei's advocacy for redress after the war; and extensive research on family and Japanese American history. The 150 digitized items that are viewable in OHS Digital Collections consist of diary entries by Masuo Yasui and Renichi Fujimoto, and correspondence among various family members, as well as to and from other correspondents outside the family. Some of these materials were written in English, and others in a pre-World War II script that is distinct from modern Japanese. Each digitized item is accompanied by translations into English, modern Japanese, or both.
The 150 digitized selections are a small portion of the overall collection, which consists of just under 20 cubic feet of material, and is available for use onsite at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library. A guide to the full collection is viewable in Archives West.
Most of the materials in the collection overall date from 1910-1995, and consist of correspondence, personal papers, extensive historical research, and photographs. Approximately 20 percent of the material is written in pre-World War II Japanese script. Correspondence in the collection includes letters of the Issei generation, but predominantly consists of material to or from the Nisei -- siblings Kay, Ray (Tsuyoshi), Minoru, Michi, Roku, Shu, Homer, and Yuka -- from youth through late adulthood, depending on the individual. The correspondence contains many letters exchanged among the family members, including incarceration-era correspondence. It also includes occasional letters from family members in Japan, and business correspondence of the Yasui Bros. stores operated by Masuo Yasui and Renichi Fujimoto. Personal papers in the collection consist of diaries and notebooks; immigration and identification papers; documents relating to day-to-day life, finances, and family members' education; materials related to the Yasui Bros. stores; poetry, essays, and articles by family members; and ephemera. Photographs include early images relating to the family's life and business operations in Hood River, as well as later images of the Nisei in their adult lives, but primarily depict travel and events related to advocacy work by Homer Yasui and his wife, Miki (Yabe) Yasui, in the latter 20th century.
A substantial portion of this collection consists of extensive research materials compiled or written by Homer Yasui and other family members about topics including Yasui family history, other Japanese Americans in Oregon, government incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, and Japanese American history broadly. These materials include translations and annotations of family documents; correspondence and news clippings; biographical notes and recollections; census extracts and other data on Japanese Americans in Oregon; copies of incarceration-era government files on Masuo Yasui and other family members; and essays, articles, newsletters, editorials, and press releases. The collection also includes a significant quantity of material related to Homer Yasui and Miki (Yabe) Yasui's advocacy and educational work, and their pilgrimages to incarceration camp sites.
Sistema de arreglo
Condiciones de acceso y uso de los elementos
Condiciones de acceso
Acceso físico
Acceso técnico
Condiciones
The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in its collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.
Idiomas del material
Escritura(s) de los documentos
Notas sobre las lenguas y escrituras
While most of the materials in the Yasui family papers are in English, approximately 20 percent are written in a pre-World War II Japanese script that is distinct from modern Japanese. A few items were translated by family members before the collection was donated to the Oregon Historical Society Research Library; these translations were retained in the collection and are noted where available. During a grant-funded project in 2023-2024, staff and translators selected approximately 150 additional documents or excerpts for digitization and translation into English and modern Japanese, based on their historical significance or representativeness of the content of the collection.
Instrumentos de descripción
Elementos de adquisición y valoración
Historial de custodia
Origen del ingreso
Gift of Homer Yasui, December 2022 (RL2022-155).
Valoración, selección y eliminación
Acumulaciones
Elementos de material relacionado
Existencia y localización de originales
Existencia y localización de copias
Unidades de descripción relacionadas.
Collections relating to the Yasui family that are held at other libraries include: the R. Sims Collection on Minidoka and Japanese Americans, Mss 356, Boise State University Library Special Collections; interview with Japanese Americans in Utah, ACCN 1209, University of Utah Library Special Collections; Mike M. Masaoka papers, Mss 0656, University of Utah Library Special Collections; the Gordon K. Hirabayashi papers, Coll 3159, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections; and the Minoru Yasui papers, Archives and Special Collections, Auraria Library, Denver, Colorado.
More than 900 photographs of the Yasui family and Yasui Bros. store are available online in the Densho digital repository
Yasui family belongings received with this collection were separated to museum collections at the Oregon Historical Society. They are viewable online in the OHS museum portal, along with objects related to the Yasui family and the Yasui Brothers stores that the museum received in earlier accessions.
Descripciones relacionadas
Elemento notas
Nota general
Preferred citation: Yasui family papers, Coll 949, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Nota general
This collection was processed and partially translated through grant-funded projects made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the State Library of Oregon.
Nota general
Translations for these collection materials is made possible through the work of our project translators Yoko Gulde, Naomi Diffely, and Mami Kikuchi, with assistance from volunteers Chizuko Suzuki, Masahisa Suzuki, Yoichiro Watanabe, and Atsuko Richards.
Notas especializadas
- Procesamiento de la información: Many documents within the Yasui family papers originate from or refer to U.S. government policies of forced removal and mass incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast of the United States from 1942-1946. These materials contain euphemistic language that was originally employed by the U.S. government, media organizations, and other parties, including terms such as "evacuee," "evacuation," "assembly center," "relocation center," and "internment camp." During processing of the collection, the processing archivist retained these terms in folder titles and labels when necessary for consistency or clarity. Examples include formal titles of reports or other documents, language transcribed directly from official records, and official names of places and facilities. However, when feasible, the processing archivist has instead used terminology that more accurately reflects government actions, policies, and facilities of that time. These terms are based on guidelines compiled by organizations including Densho, the National Park Service, and the Japanese American Museum of Oregon, and are used throughout this collection guide in biographical information, in series and folder titles, and in other descriptions of materials, as well as on physical folder labels.
Identificador/es alternativo(os)
Área de control de la descripción
Reglas o convenciones
Finding aid based on DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard), 2nd Edition.
Fuentes
Nota del archivista
Oregon Historical Society staff, 2024
Puntos de acceso
Puntos de acceso por materia
Puntos de acceso por lugar
Puntos de acceso por autoridad
- Yasui, Homer, 1924- (Contribuyente)
- Yasui family (Materia)
- Yasui Brothers Store (Hood River, Or.) (Materia)
- Yasui, Masuo (Materia)
- Yasui, Shidzuyo, 1886-1960 (Materia)
- Fujimoto, Renichi, 1883-1965 (Materia)
- Yasui, Minoru, 1916-1986 (Materia)
- Yasui, Ray T. (Ray Tsuyoshi), 1915-1989 (Materia)