MUSEUM ADDS 500 MORE IMAGES ONLINE FROM TOYO MIYATAKE-RAFU SHIMPO COLLECTION

The Japanese American National Museum recently added 500 more images to its Web site from its Toyo Miyatake/Rafu Shimpo Collection, a series of over 9,500 negatives and photographs taken by Toyo Miyatake Studios for the Rafu Shimpo beginning in the 1950s and continuing into the 1980s.

The Rafu Shimpo, which was founded in 1903, is Southern California’s largest Japanese-English newspaper. Beginning in the 1950s, it employed Toyo Miyatake Studios to shoot photographs of local news events, including dinners, VIP visits, groundbreakings, sporting events and press conferences, among others. Toyo Miyatake Studios kept these photographs at their offices through the years, but in the 1990s, the Rafu Shimpo began relying on their own staff for most photos.

In 1996, Alan Miyatake, grandson of famed Japanese American photographer Toyo Miyatake, approached the Japanese American National Museum about their interest in acquiring this group of photographs. Since the 1920s, the Rafu Shimpo has been run by the Komai family, beginning with Toyosaku Komai, followed by his eldest son Akira, and by Akira’s son Michael. The Komai family donated funds to help preserve this collection. Toyo’s son Archie was involved in trying to identify the people and the occasions depicted in the photographs.

However, because of the size of this collection, it required a grant to digitize parts of the collection, so it could be made more readily available through the National Museum’s Web site. Anyone can view over 900 images through the Web site at http://www.janm.org/collections/toyo-miyatake-studio-rafu-shimpo-collection/.

"This collection, representing the work of two family businesses—Toyo Miyatake Studios and the Rafu Shimpo—provides a unique view of the Southern California Nikkei community for over 30 years," observed National Museum President & CEO Akemi Kikumura Yano. "I think almost anyone who is familiar with our Japanese American community from this era will recognize people immortalized in this photo collection.

"In fact, the National Museum would encourage anyone who views the photos through our Web site to help us identify people, places and events, since not all of the photos Toyo Miyatake Studios took were printed in the Rafu Shimpo. So information was scarce on certain images, but I know there are people in our community who will immediately recognize faces and can help with this process."

Those who want to help identify people, places and events in these photographs should contact the Hirasaki National Resource Center at hnrc@janm.org. Each photograph has an identification number, so please list that number along with any more information about the image.

The Japanese American National Museum has the largest collection of objects and artifacts related to the history of Japanese Americans. One of its long-term goals is to make more of its collection available. However, projects like the Toyo Miyatake-Rafu Shimpo Collection require funding to preserve, document, catalog and digitize each object.

"The National Museum needs the support of everyone to continue to maintain its collection," Kikumura Yano explained. "By ensuring the proper care and use of our collection, we can ensure that the Japanese American story will never be forgotten."