Yoshio Kishi Papers
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Abstract
Yoshio Kishi was an award-winning New York City based film and sound editor working on notable films such Martin Scorcese's Raging Bull (1980) and Wayne Wang's Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart (1985). When not working on films, Kishi avidly collected materials that trace depictions of Asian Americans in U.S. intellectual and popular culture, as well as materials produced by Asian American activists to counter stereotypical imagery of Asian peoples. Kishi eventually amassed over 10,000 items, allowing him to trace Asian and Asian American depictions throughout two centuries of American history. In addition to his collection of Asian Americana, Kishi dedicated time to tracing his own family lineage, documenting his family through correspondence, photographs, and his own personal research notes. The Yoshio Kishi Papers roughly span from 1892 to 2011, with the bulk of the materials dating between the 1950s to the mid-2000s. This collection contains correspondence, photographs, personal notes, photocopied articles, filmography lists, pamphlets and interview videos with Kishi that discuss his career as an artist, his family, and his collections of Asian American materials.
Biographical Note
Yoshio Kishi (1932- 2012) was an award-winning professional New York City based film and sound editor. Kishi was born in 1932 to Eikichi and Haru Kishi, both of whom immigrated from Japan to the United States. Kishi had four siblings: Hajime, Fumi, Mitsuo, and Isomi. He was educated at the Bronx High School of Sciences, the City College of New York, Herzliah Hebrew Teachers Institute, the Fashion Institute of Technology, and the New School for Social Research. Kishi briefly taught at New York's Film Institute and served as a juror for directing and editing at the Emmy Awards.
Kishi worked as an editor on Martin Scorcese's Raging Bull (1980), Alan Parker's Fame (1980), as well as Wayne Wang's Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart (1985). Kishi also worked as a sound editor on Jerry Schatzberg's Panic in Needle Park (1971) and, in addition to serving as the editor, Kishi also directed Lombardi (1968).
For four decades, Kishi avidly collected materials that traced depictions of Asian Americans in U.S. intellectual and popular culture, as well as materials produced by Asian American activists to counter stereotypical imagery of Asian peoples. His compulsion for collecting Asian Americana began in the mid-1960s when, reflecting upon his own identity as a second-generation Japanese American, Kishi began to regret not knowing more about his ethnic heritage. Kishi grew up in a largely Irish and Italian tenement neighborhood and during World War II, to avoid being labeled enemy aliens, his parents stopped speaking Japanese and joined a local Lutheran Church. In an effort to reclaim his ethnic heritage, Kishi, with the help of Los Angeles-based veteran actress and friend, Irene Yah Ling Sun, began to scour flea markets to purchase any materials relating to Asian Americana. Kishi eventually amassed over 10,000 items showcasing the demonization, as well as activism efforts of Asian Americans. Kishi's vast collection allowed him to trace Asian and Asian American depictions throughout two centuries of American history.
In his later life, Yoshio Kishi developed a relationship with New York University's Asian/Pacific/American (A/P/A) Institute and in 2003, he sold his collection of Asian Americana to New York University, on behalf of the A/P/A Institute. Kishi's collection, later titled the "Yoshio Kishi and Irene Yah-Ling Sun Collection" (MSS.292), was purchased with the intention of making its contents publicly available for research by students, scholars, and any other interested parties. Although Kishi parted with most of his Asian Americana collection, he did retain some materials for personal use, which laid the groundwork for the Yoshio Kishi Papers (MSS.351).
Yoshio Kishi died in 2012.
Arrangement
This collection has been arranged into series by topic:
I. Works II. Collection of Asian American Materials III. Personal Materials
Within each series, the materials have been arranged alphabetically.
Scope and Contents
The Yoshio Kishi Papers roughly span from 1892 to 2011, with the bulk of the materials dating between the 1950s to the mid-2000s. The collection documents various aspects of Kishi's professional and private life, as well as his contributions as a collector of Asian American materials.
The collection contains correspondence between Kishi and his family members, friends, colleagues, as well as other collectors of Asian American ephemera. There are several volumes of Kishi's journals that contain insights into his daily life, as well as drafts of project ideas, poems, and other creative writings.
As a second generation Japanese American, Kishi was especially concerned with stereotypical Asian American imagery in the United States, and to this effect, the collection contains vast quantities of research materials such as photocopies of articles and book chapters that examine racist portrayals of Asian peoples in film, photocopies of old Hollywood movie posters such as the Humphrey Bogart film Tokyo Joe (1949), as well as newspaper clippings related to famous Asian celebrities such as Anna May Wong and Michelle Wei. It should be noted the collection, particularly in Series II, does contain material that may be deemed offensive and/or racist.
The Yoshio Kishi Papers also includes documents relating to the Yoshio Kishi and Irene Yah-Ling Sun Collection (MSS.292), which was purchased from Yoshio Kishi in 2003 by New York University's Asian/Pacific/American (A/P/A) Institute. These documents include drafts of the legal agreements between Kishi and New York University, inventories of the Kishi/Sun Collection, brochures promoting the Kishi/Sun collection, and photographs from the "Archivist of the Yellow Peril" exhibition host by the A/P/A Institute in 2005. The "Archivist of the Yellow Peril" exhibition provided glimpses of the Kishi/Sun Collection's 8000+ rare artifacts.
The Yoshio Kishi Papers contains photographs and photo negatives whose subject matters range from general everyday life, Kishi's family, and Asian American stereotypes. The collection also contains one audioreel entitled "Mama" and two video interviews with Yoshio Kishi that have been recorded on VHS tapes.
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
This collection is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date (if known); Yoshio Kishi Papers; MSS.351; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University Libraries.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Dylan Yeats acquired the collection from Yoshio Kishi's nursing home after Kishi's death. Yeats later donated the collection to Fales Library at New York University
About this Guide
Processing Information
A graduate student in the Fall 2019 session of Advanced Archival Description (HIST-GA.2031) surveyed and wrote a processing plan for this collection. This collection was arranged and described by an archivist in the summer of 2021. Materials were placed in new acid-free folders and boxes. Original folder titles were retained when available.
