Oral history collection
Scope and Contents
This collection contains born-digital oral history interviews recorded by or transferred to the Japanese American Service Committee Legacy Center between 2017 and 2021. The subject matter of the interviews varies, but typically includes a combination of topics related to immigration, pre-WWII experience, WWII incarceration, military service, resettlement, family and community life in Chicago and the Midwest, the Japanese American redress movement, and contemporary experiences of people of Japanese descent. The bulk of the interviews reflect personal or family experiences related to incarceration and its aftermath. Other topics include pre-WWII Japanese and Japanese American experience in Chicago, post-WWII immigration/shin-nikkei experience, mixed-race identity, and social activism.
Work to transcribe and make interviews publicly accessible online is ongoing. Where available, links to view interviews online are provided at the series and item level in this finding aid.
Dates
- 2017-2021
Conditions Governing Use
Interviews may only be reproduced with permission from the Japanese American Service Committee Legacy Center.
Extent
1.75 Terabytes
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
Interviews are arranged into three series. Within each series, interviews are arranged alphabetically by interviewee's last name.
Series 1 - Then They Came for Me
Interviews recorded at Alphawood Gallery in conjunction with the 2017 exhibit Then They Came for Me. These interviews were conducted by Anna Takada and funded by the Alphawood Foundation. Recorded between July and November 2017, they were later transferred to the JASC Legacy Center.
Series 2 - Untold Stories
Interviews recorded at the Japanese American Service Committee (JASC) by Anna Takada as a continuation of the oral history project begun at Alphawood Gallery. Recorded between March 2018 and October 2019, these interviews were funded by a combination of support from the Alphawood Foundation and a Japanese American Confinement Sites (JACS) grant from the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
Series 3 - Oral History Project
Interviews recorded at JASC, recorded online, or recorded by JASC staff or contractors at off-site locations during or after 2021. Funding sources vary.
- Title
- Oral history collection
- Status
- In Progress
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the JASC Legacy Center Repository