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Yabe family papers, 1900-2022

Overview of the Collection

Compiler
Yasui, Miki, 1926-2018
Title
Yabe family papers
Dates
1900-2022 (inclusive)
Quantity
2.8 cubic feet, (5 legal document cases; 1 slim legal document case; 1 oversize flat box (19x25))
Collection Number
Coll 982
Summary
This collection consists of papers of and relating to members of a Japanese American family. The materials date from the early 20th century to 2022, and particularly document the experiences of Mitsuye (Jyoko) Yabe (1897-1985), who immigrated to California from Japan around 1917, and her youngest daughter, Miyuki (Yabe) Yasui (1926-2018). Included are Mitsuye Yabe's correspondence, in Japanese; original documents and materials of Yabe family members; Miyuki Yasui's research files and historical writings on family history and the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming, where the family were incarcerated during World War II; and a small assortment of family photographs.
Repository
Oregon Historical Society Research Library
1200 SW Park Avenue
Portland, OR
97205
Telephone: 503-306-5240
Fax: 503-219-2040
libreference@ohs.org
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Languages
Approximately 20 percent of the written materials in this collection, including most of the correspondence in Series 1, is written in Japanese, in both modern and pre-World War II scripts. During initial processing in 2024, most of these materials were briefly reviewed to identify document types and likely contents, so Japanese-language materials could be placed in the appropriate groupings. However, the materials have not been translated, and the content of the individual documents has not been identified.
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Biographical Note

Kenden Yabe was born in 1888, the eldest son of famed Okinawan karate instructor Kentsu Yabu. Between 1906 and 1908, he immigrated to Hawaii, finding work in agriculture. After several years, he moved to Southern California, where he worked as a gardener and a cook in a restaurant, before opening and operating a produce stand. In 1917, Yabe met twenty-year old Mitsuye Jyoko, who had recently arrived in the United States from Ehime prefecture, Japan. They married in El Centro, California, in August 1919.

Between 1921 and 1926, Mitsuye and Kenden Yabe had four daughters: Emi; Elosa, who died at age 2; Rayko; and Miyuki, who was also known as Miki. The Yabes supported their family through the operation of their produce stand until 1939, when Kenden Yabe, then 51, died after an automobile accident. Mitsuye Yabe, widowed at 42, took a job in Los Angeles running a small hotel near Japantown, where she and her daughters lived for two years. In 1942, following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and the issuance of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Yabe family were among the more than 120,000 Japanese Americans who were forcibly removed and incarcerated by the U.S. government. The Yabes were incarcerated at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming, where both Rayko Yabe and Miyuki Yabe finished high school. Mitsuye Yabe and Miyuki Yabe obtained work releases from the camp, and from late 1944 until about 1946, they worked at Seabrook Farms, a cannery in New Jersey that employed many Japanese Americans as laborers.

Following World War II and the end of incarceration, Emi Yabe married Bill Wiitala, an engineer, and they later resided in northern California. Rayko Yabe lived in New York with her husband, Isaku Konoshima, a math teacher, and Miyuki Yabe enrolled in Drexel College in Philadelphia. Mitsuye Yabe lived for a few years with each of her daughters and a sister before returning permanently to Los Angeles around 1960. She became a U.S. citizen in 1980, and died in 1985 at age 88.

Miyuki Yabe graduated from Drexel College in 1949 with a degree in education. In 1950 she wed Homer Yasui, a surgeon from Oregon who had briefly been incarcerated with his family during the war. In 1954, after completing his general surgery residency, Homer Yasui was drafted and assigned to the U.S. Naval Air Station at Iwakuni, Japan, where the Yasuis lived with their two young daughters for 18 months. Afterward, they relocated to Portland, Oregon, near Homer Yasui's hometown of Hood River, where they raised their daughters, Barbara and Meredith, and their son, John. Homer and Miki Yasui were active in civic organizations including the Portland branch of the Japanese American Citizens League, and were advocates for recognition of Japanese American history and redress for wartime incarceration. Miyuki Yabe Yasui died in 2018, and Homer Yasui died in 2023.

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Content Description

This collection documents the experiences and history of members of the Yabe family, a Japanese American family based in southern California in the decades prior to World War II. Much of the collection relates to Mitsuye (Jyoko) Yabe, who emigrated from Japan in the early 20th century, and to her daughters, particularly her youngest daughter, Miyuki (Yabe) Yasui. The materials reflect their lives before, during, and after their forced removal and incarceration at Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming, and date from the beginning of the 20th century through 2022. Most documents are in English; approximately one-fifth are in Japanese, including a portion in a pre-World War II script that is distinct from modern Japanese.

Series 1 consists of Mitsuye Yabe's correspondence, nearly all of which is written in Japanese and dates from just after World War II until her death in 1985. Most of the correspondence consists of incoming letters from various family members and friends, and is grouped roughly by correspondent. It has not been translated.

Series 2, Yabe family materials, contains original documents, such as marriage licenses, birth certificates, citizenship records, War Relocation Authority files for some individuals, and education-related materials. The school materials include report cards, certificates, and yearbooks, some of which are from Heart Mountain High School. The family materials also include a small number of letters among Mitsuye Yabe's daughters, Emi, Rayko, and Miyuki, as well as general family history documents. Mitsuye Yabe and Miyuki (Yabe) Yasui are the family members most represented in this series.

Series 3, Research files and historical writings, consists primarily of materials compiled or created by Miyuki (Yabe) Yasui about her family and the Heart Mountain Relocation Center. The materials are split into two subseries. Subseries 3.1 focuses on the history of the Yabe family, including the family's genealogy and origins in Okinawa. Individual histories explored in this subseries include Miyuki Yasui's grandfather Kentsu Yabu; her father, Kenden Yabe; and her mother, Mitsuye (Jyoko) Yabe. Subseries 3.2 contains research files on Heart Mountain, mainly in the form of copies of World War II-era government agency documents, such as weekly reports by the Heart Mountain project director, correspondence and other reports from or about Heart Mountain, and excerpts from the papers of two contemporary Wyoming governors and a senator.

Series 4 holds a selection of Yabe family photographs, mostly in black and white. A small number of photographs, consisting of group portraits and scenes from Kenden Yabe's funeral, predate World War II. Photographs taken at Heart Mountain, and particularly at Heart Mountain High school, show show Mitsuye, Rayko, and Miyuki Yabe during incarceration. Later photograph albums and scrapbooks depict late-life trips that Mitsuye Yabe made to Japan, as well as family reunions and other celebrations.

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Use of the Collection

Alternative Forms Available

Selected documents and photographs from the Yabe family papers are viewable online in OHS Digital Collections.

Preferred Citation

Yabe family papers, Coll 982, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

Restrictions on Use

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 the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Collection is arranged in four series:

  • Series 1: Mitsuye (Jyoko) Yabe correspondence
  • Series 2: Yabe family materials
  • Series 3. Research files and historical writings
    • Subseries 3.1: Research and writings on Yabe family history and individuals
    • Subseries 3.2: Research files on Heart Mountain Relocation Center
  • Series 4: Yabe family photographs

Acquisition Information

Gift of Homer Yasui, December 2022 (RL2022-155).

Processing Note

Many documents within this collection 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.

Separated Materials

This collection was donated in 2022 as part of the Yasui family papers, which were processed separately as Coll 949.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Heart Mountain Relocation Center (Wyo.)--History
  • Japanese American families--California--History--20th century
  • Japanese American women--California--Los Angeles--History--20th century
  • Japanese Americans--Correspondence
  • Japanese Americans--Forced removal and internment, 1942-1945

Personal Names

  • Yabe, Mitsuye, 1897-1985
  • Yasui, Miki, 1926-2018

Family Names

  • Yabe family
  • Yabe family--Correspondence
  • Yabe family--Photographs

Geographical Names

  • United States--Emigration and immigration

Form or Genre Terms

  • correspondence
  • research (documents)

Other Creators

  • Personal Names

    • Yabe, Mitsuye, 1897-1985 (creator)

Oregon Historical Society staff
2024

CC0

About Creative Commons Licenses in Archives West

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