Shiro Takeda (1901-1971) and Hisako Manabe (1911-1970) were married on September 13, 1938 in Reno, Nevada. Shiro Takeda emigrated from Japan in 1929 to attend graduate school at Lincoln University in San Francisco. After graduating, he served as editor for The New-World Sun in San Francisco and the Rafu Shimpo in Los Angeles. Hisako was born in San Francisco to immigrant parents born in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. In 1942, Hisako gave birth to a son, Terry. In the same year the Takeda family was removed from their home to Heart Mountain Relocation Center, Wyoming via Santa Anita Assembly Center, California by the War Relocation Authority as part of the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans authorized by Executive Order 9066. In 1943, Shiro was hired as a Japanese language instructor for the United States Navy at the University of Colorado, Boulder on May 6, 1943. On July 16, 1943, Hisako and Terry were also released from Heart Mountain. In 2002, the U.S. Navy presented an award for distinguished service to Shiro Takeda (posthumously) and other instructors at the U.S. Navy Japanese Language School.
Executive Order 9066:
In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which resulted in the incarceration from 1942 to 1946 of approximately 120,000 adults and children of Japanese ancestry, many of whom were United States citizens. They were expelled from their homes and placed in incarceration camps without due process and in violation of their civil rights. These camps were euphemistically referred to as “relocation centers” or “internment camps”. After decades of advocacy by the Japanese American community, in 1988 the United States issued a formal apology and began redress to survivors of Japanese incarceration during World War II.
The Takeda Family Papers consist primarily of records, photographs, and clippings gathered by Terry Takeda. Most of the documents in this collection were removed from a scrapbook in order to provide better access and preservation conditions for the documents. The records contained in the collection are vital records about Shiro and Hisako Takeda, a copy of Terry Takeda’s authorization for permanent leave from the incarceration camps, and records related to Shiro Takeda’s service to the United States Navy as a Japanese language instructor. Photographs are of Shiro Takeda prior to World War II and the Takeda family during their time at Heart Mountain Relocation Center, Wyoming. Also included in the collection is a blanket used by Shiro Takeda at Heart Mountain.
This collection is arranged in a single series.
Some items in this collection have been digitized and are available online as part of the
This collection is open and available for research use.
Copyright restrictions apply.
[Item description]
Takeda Family Papers, 1938-circa 2012 (SC 014.3)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
The Takeda Family Collection were donated to Washington State University by Patti Hirahara, Terry Takeda’s wife, in 2010 and 2016 (MS 2010-36 and MS 2016-31).
This collection was processed by Steven Bingo.
In 2021, in response to evolving societal understanding regarding the language used to describe the impact of Executive Order 9066, this finding aid was revised to more accurately provide context to the mass incarceration of people of Japanese ancestry during World War II.
George and Frank C. Hirahara Photograph Collection of Heart Mountain, Wyoming, 1932-2016
Tom T. Hide Collection, 1925-2012
Okubara Family Collection, circa 1943-2008
Kenneth Nishiyori Collection, 1942-1944
George and Doris McIntyre Papers, 1944-1945
Mari Tsuruyama Okumura Collection, 1936-2014
Patti Hirahara Collection, 1955-2020
Terry Ishihara Collection, 1989-2012
Mike Mackey Collection, 1940-2002
Heart Mountain High School
Fusataro Nakaya Photographs, circa 1944
Nabata Family Collection of Heart Mountain Photographs, circa 1942-1945
Frank Chin Oral History Collection, 1974-1986
Inez Puckett McEwen Collection on Japanese-American Incarceration, 1942-1943
Japanese American Redress Collection, 1976-2000
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.