Stanford University Libraries have digitized the Kazuyuki Takahashi papers, an “extraordinary collection” of letters and photographs that expand the historical record of wartime incarceration in the United States.
Kazuyuki Takahashi (3rd row, second from left) poses with the Stanford Japanese Student Association, 1941. Like Kaz and Soyo Takahashi, Stanford history Professor Yamato Ichihashi (1st row, second from right) and his wife, Kei, were also incarcerated at Santa Anita Processing Center. | Stanford Historical Photograph Collection (SC1071), Stanford University Libraries
The Kazuyuki Takahashi papers, comprising digital scans of correspondence, photographs, and related materials created and collected by Stanford University graduate Kazuyuki “Kaz” Takahashi and his wife, Soyo Takahashi, during their incarceration at Santa Anita Assembly Center and Manzanar concentration camp, includes correspondence with family in Japan and with Stanford University administration and faculty, as well as a family scrapbook documenting Kaz and Soyo’s experiences while incarcerated. The materials, lent to Stanford University Libraries by Caroline Takahashi, Kaz and Soyo’s daughter, were recently digitized by the Digital Production Group, and cataloged and described by staff of the Department of Special Collections & University Archives.
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Over 120,000 immigrants and citizens of Japanese origin were forcibly removed and placed into camps by the U.S. government during World War II. Persons of Japanese ancestry could not return to the exclusionary zone on the West Coast until after the end of the war; additionally, like many who were incarcerated, Kaz found it difficult to find a professional position that reflected his background experience, and needed approval from the U.S. Attorney to travel for professional opportunities. The collection includes correspondence with colleagues at universities at which Kaz sought employment while he was incarcerated at Manzanar, as well as travel requests from St. Louis, Missouri, where he and Soyo moved after his incarceration for work and study at Washington University.
