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George Yoshiaki Yamashita Papers
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
George Yoshiaki Yamashita grew up in Stockton, California, and after high school worked in various agricultural jobs as well as began training as a machinist. In April 1942, he was forcibly removed to and detained at Stockton Assembly Center until October, when he and his family were incarcerated at the Rohwer War Relocation Center in Arkansas. In 1943, he obtained clearance to work at Bethlehem Steel in Staten Island, New York before training in the Military Intelligence Service Language School and serving in the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946. He was briefly stationed in Japan in 1946, and by the end of that year, rejoined his family in Long Beach, California, and married his wife, Fumi Kuroda, in the late 1940s. He later served in the Korean War, and worked at Ford Aerospace.
Consists almost entirely of correspondence to George Yoshiaki Yamashita, with a small amount of ephemera. The materials document his life from before the attack on Pearl Harbor; his work, military training, and service during the war; and his life afterward in Long Beach, CA. Only a few letters pertain to his period of incarceration at the Rohwer War Relocation Center.
The correspondence is in English, with only a few in Japanese. There are many letters from his wife, Fumi Yamashita (née Kuroda), from before they were married and from the early years of their marriage when they were living and working apart from one another in California. There are also letters from other family members and friends, as well as more administrative letters from the Veterans of Foreign Wars office, the University of California Berkeley, insurance companies, etc. The bulk of the correspondence is from 1945, the year in which he was at Fort Snelling; 1947, his first year in Long Beach, CA after completing military service; and 1949-1950, when his primary correspondent was Fumi, whose letters discussed her work in the wine industry and their financial and family challenges, but also touched upon anti-Japanese violence and the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950.
There is a small amount of ephemera and other documents, including forms from Rohwer, high school report cards, pay stubs (mostly from the Kit Manufacturing Company in Long Beach), study notes, receipts, veterans' resettlement paperwork, etc.
Materials are arranged in the order in which they were received. The dealer had organized the materials by genre/material, and then roughly chronologically by year.
Purchased from James E. Arsenault & Company in December 2023 (AM 2025-046).
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This collection was processed by Amy C. Vo in December 2024. Finding aid written by Amy C. Vo in December 2024, incorporating description provided by the creator.
No materials were removed from the collection during 2025 processing beyond routine appraisal practices.
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Subject
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Author
- Amy C. Vo
- Finding Aid Date
- 2025
- Access Restrictions
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This collection is open for research.
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Collection Inventory
1 linear footin one record carton box.