Kawanishi Family papers, 1937 - 2008

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Kawanishi family
Title
Kawanishi Family papers
Dates
1937 - 2008 (inclusive)
Quantity
.84 cubic feet (2 boxes)
Collection Number
6184 (Accession No. 6184-001)
Summary
Materials related to the internment and incarceration of the Kawanishi family
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

No restrictions on access.

Languages
English

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

As with many families of Japanese ancestry, the Kawanishi family, including Harry Teikichi Kawanishi (Father), Fusa Kawanishi (Mother), Toshiyuki Kawanishi (Brother), Irene Yoshiko Kawanishi (Sister), and Alice Masako Kawanishi (Sister), were illegally incarcerated in American concentration camps as a result of Executive Order 9066, authorized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II. In March 1942, Harry Kawanishi was fired from his position at Seattle's Rhododendron Hotel due to his Japanese ancestry. In May 1942, Mrs. Fusa Kawanishi was forced to sell her beauty parlor. That same month, the Kawanishis were forcibly removed to a temporary detention center located at the Puyallup Fair Grounds, euphemistically known as Camp Harmony. They remained at the temporary detention center until August 1942 when they were sent to the Minidoka incarceration camp in Hunt, Idaho. In June 1943, Alice Masako Kawanishi was contracted to work for the War Relocation Authority office in South Dakota, the same office which had incarcerated her family. Over the next three years, Alice was transferred to various locations across the US including Grand Junction, Colorado, Boston, Massachusetts, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her father, Harry, was contacted to work at the Phyllis Brown Studio in Minneapolis while her mother, sister, and brother remained at the incarceration camp in Minidoka. In March of 1946, following the close of World War II, Executive Order 9066 lapsed. The Kawanishi family along with more than 110,000 individuals of Japanese heritage were released from illegal imprisonment. Alice Kawanishi eventually returned to Seattle in February 1946. In 1949, Irene Yoshiko Kawanishi married Sumio Sakaguchi, who was also illegally detained at "Camp Harmony" in Puyallup and Minidoka. In 1988, the US government passed S. 1009, the Redress and Reparations Bill, which offered a formal apology and monetary compensation to Japanese Americans and their descendants incarcerated throughout the war.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

The Kawanishi family papers contain materials related to the internment/incarceration of the family during World War II. Materials in the collection include correspondence, official letters and forms, ephemera, and news clippings related to the Kawanishi family's incarceration, Japanese Americans, World War II, and the Redress Movement. Collection also contains a small selection of materials related to Nobushiro William Kato, Sumio Sakaguchi, Yoshiko Sakata, Haibeye Matsui, Kiyoshi Toyooka, and Kenjiro Nomura.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Restrictions on Use

Creator's copyrights transferred to the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Acquisition Information

Irene Sakaguchi, Mika Peart (Power of Attorney), 2018-01-03

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

 

Container(s) Description Dates
Box/Folder
1/1-3 Correspondence and Official Records 1937-1987
1/4 Hunt High School (Minidoka Incarceration Camp) Yearbook 1943
1/5 Ephemera 1942-2008
1/6-13 News Articles and Clippings 1943-2008
Box
2 Greasewood Button and Wooden Pieces carved by Teikichi Kawanishi while in Minidoka Incarceration Camp 1943-1945?

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Japanese Americans--Civil rights
  • Japanese Americans--Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945
  • Japanese Americans--Reparations
  • Japanese Americans--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Personal Papers/Corporate Records (University of Washington)
  • Reparations for historical injustices--United States
  • World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--United States

Family Names

  • Kawanishi family--Archives