Tomie Arai and Legan Wong Papers
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Abstract
Artist and community activist Tomie Arai (1949- ) has been working as an artist in the New York City area since the 1960s, and together with Legan Wong (1951- ) has also been involved with the New York-based Asian American cultural movement since the 1970s. The Tomie Arai and Legan Wong Papers document arts and cultural organizations in New York specifically focused on the Asian American experience including Cityarts Workshop, Basement Workshop, and Godzilla Asian American Art Network. Some of the publications and posters in the collection are bilingual in English and either Japanese, Korean, or Chinese. This collection also contains exhibition catalogues and ephemera accumulated by Arai and Wong which primarily focused on New York-based Asian American artists active during the 1970s to the early 2000s. Arai's work as an artist is documented in this collection through exhibition promotional material, original drawings, printwork created for publications and community organizations, correspondence and project files. This collection also includes materials created and collected by Legan Wong documenting his creation of college courses on the Asian American experience in the 1970s as well as a small amount of material related to his music production work with East West World Records in the 1980s. This collection also contains material related to Wong's participation in the Asian Tactical Theater, Soh Daiko, and an Asian American Softball League team in New York. Materials from Arai's early life and family include Arai's elementary and high school memorabilia from the 1960s and items accumulated by Arai's parents specifically related to their experience as people of Japanese descent in the United States during and after World War II. These materials include research, publications produced and distributed at individual facilities, and original artwork by Arai's uncle, Unosuke Sasaki, created during his period of incarceration at the Topaz Relocation Center, a concentration camp in Utah, in the early 1940s.
Biographical Note
Tomie Arai (1949- ) was born in New York City and is a third generation Japanese American. She has been creating and exhibiting her artwork since the 1960s. In the 1970s she worked at the Basement Workshop on various projects and the Cityarts Workshop, where she worked as a resource center coordinator and mural director. Arai then worked as a freelance graphic artist for Alan Okada of Citibank, creating posters, brochures and promotional materials for community groups as part of Citibank's Graphic Support program. Arai has been involved in many community-based art projects, creating site-specific public works of art commissioned by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs' Percent for Art Program, the General Services Administration of the Federal Government, and the NYC MTA Arts for Transit Program.
As an Asian American activist she has participated in the political movements since the 1960s and continues her involvement through organizations including the Museum of Chinese in the Americas. She also served as NYU Asian/Pacific/American Institute's first Artist-in-Residence in 1997-1998 and in 2005.
Biographical Note
Legan Wong (1951- ) was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Chinese immigrant parents. Wong was active in the New York Asian American Movement during the 1970s and 1980s. From 1971 to 1973, he served as a coordinator for the Basement Workshop and was also active in the Asian American Resource Center.
While Wong was an undergraduate at Queens College and later as an adjunct lecturer at Hunter College, he worked to promote the development and expansion of Asian American Studies. Wong was eventually hired at Hunter College to teach a course called The Asian American Experience, a historical and contemporary examination of the experiences of Asians in America. Wong was a member of Asians in the Spirit of the Indo-Chinese (ASI) and Asian Americans for Equal Employment (AAFEE), which focused on workers' rights, racism, and police brutality. Wong also worked as a researcher and freelance writer for the Council on Interracial Books for Children. Between 1982 and 1985, Wong worked as one of the executive producers of East West World Records. The record company produced the album Back to Back and Visions and Dreams.
Wong was involved in a number of local community groups, including the Asian Tactical Theatre, a collective of Asian American activists involved in helping to develop the Asian American cultural front of the larger Asian American Movement. Wong was also a member of Soh Daiko, a taiko drum performance group based at the New York Buddhist Church, and a member of a team in the Asian American Softball League in New York.
Arrangement
The papers are arranged in four series, which have been arranged in chronological order within each series. Files with the same title are grouped together and arranged chronologically within that group.
The series arrangement of the papers is as follows:
Series I. Community Activism
Series II. Tomie Arai Artwork
Series III. Legan Wong Work Files
Series IV. Tomie Arai Early Life and Family
Scope and Contents
The Tomie Arai and Legan Wong Papers document the spouses' work in the arts, Asian American Studies, and the Asian American Movement in New York dating from the 1970s to the early 2000s. Older materials in this collection relate to Arai as a student in New York and documentation accumulated by Arai's parents and other family members regarding the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. The collection includes exhibition ephemera, Asian American community publications, drawings and prints, correspondence, photographs, and bilingual event posters and announcements in English and either Chinese, Japanese or Korean.
This collection contains material on Arai and Wong's involvement in large and smaller Asian American activist-driven organizations including the Basement Workshop, Cityarts Workshop, and Godzilla Asian American Art Network which have historically been under-documented in larger arts and cultural institutions. These organizations files typically contain promotional material, newsclippings, correspondence, and event posters with printwork by Arai. This collection also contains a large amount of material accumulated by Arai and Wong on Asian American artists' exhibitions and performances in the New York City area during the 1970s through 2000s, including posters, fliers, artist prints, and informational brochures.
A large portion of the collection documents Arai's work from the 1970s to the 2000s, including exhibition announcements and catalogues, correspondence, press materials, and work files for the exhibitions Mi Familia Mi Comunidad, and Chinese y Criollo, a collaborative oral history and art project. This collection also contains publications, posters, drawings, prints, and proofs from Arai's work as a graphic artist for Citibank, focusing primarily on promotional material for small New York Asian American community groups.
Legan Wong's files document his development of university classes on the Asian American experience, including source material, lecture plans, correspondence, and conference notes and information. His files also contain information on community groups he was involved with, including the Asian Americans for Equal Employment (AAFEE), Asian in the Spirit of the Indochinese (ASI), and the Asian Tactical Theater. Correspondence and informational material on the American Softball League in New York and the Soh Daiko performance group illustrate his involvement in the Asian American cultural community as well.
A small amount of older material in this collection relates to Arai's junior high school and early adult years in the 1960s and also contains ephemera and print material accumulated by her parents during the 1940s and 1950s, some of which concerns the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Materials include research, publications produced and distributed at individual facilities, and original artwork by Arai's uncle, Unosuke Sasaki, created during his period of incarceration at the Topaz Relocation Center, a concentration camp in Utah, in the early 1940s.
Subjects
Organizations
People
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Donors
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; Tomie Arai and Legan Wong Papers; MSS 439; box number; folder number or item identifier; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Tomie Arai, 2015. The accession number associated with this gift is 2015.439.
Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures
Audiovisual material has not been preserved and may not be available to researchers. Material not yet digitized will need to have an access copy made before they can be used. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact Fales Library and Special Collections, special.collections@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596 with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.
Appraisal
Three record cartons of duplicate print material, including exhibition announcements and catalogues and newsclippings, were identified and removed from the collection. The commercially produced record album: Chairman Mao's 4 Minute Physical Fitness Program (1973) was separated from the collection. Approximately 50 collectible buttons were sorted and only those specifically pertaining to the Asian American movement and community were retained. Two mounted items including an illustration: "Unidad de todas" and a reproduction of a photograph of a group with fists in air were removed from the collection. Arai's resource/reference book titles were reviewed and removed if they already existed within the NYU Library's holdings. A list of those removed is available.
Three commercially available record albums owned by Arai's parents (1937 Billie Holiday song, Pat Suzuki Broadway album, and Broadway musical soundtrack, Flower Drum Song album) have been retained in the collection because they were part of Arai's parents' personal collection, two are autographed, and the Broadway show had Asian American performers.
About this Guide
Processing Information
In 2009, a staff person at NYU Asian/Pacific/American Institute surveyed the collection.
In 2017 Conservation Lab staff remounted and rehoused the 15 watercolor artworks and rehoused the posters.
In 2020, narrative description was edited to more accurately describe the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
During the processing of this collection in 2021, all material was refoldered into archival folders and placed in appropriate sized containers. Original titles were transcribed onto the new folders when possible. The material was arranged into four series by the processing archivist.
Publication titles containing harmfully euphemistic language regarding the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II were identified, but have been retained to convey important contextual information regarding time and place in which the documents and titles were created.
Six commercial phonodiscs were identified and processed as artifacts and not audiovisual material.
Revisions to this Guide
Repository
Series I. Community Activism, 1966-2009, inclusive
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Scope and Contents
This series primarily consists of materials related to Arai and Wong's involvement in the Asian American Movement, particularly their engagement with grassroots and arts-related organizations and institutions. Many of these organizations were small Asian American artist-driven organizations within New York, representing the needs and interests of this community during the 1970s and 1980s.
This series includes files on the Cityarts Workshop, a nonprofit community mural arts organization in the 1970s that created murals by and for communities of color. Arai's artwork was used heavily for the organization's publications and posters during her time with them. Files include promotional material, press clippings, correspondence, presentations, mural planning notes, newsletters, original sketches by artists, and photographs of events, artwork, and artists working on murals. This series also includes publications and leaflets used as inspiration for graphics and murals.
In the 1970s, Arai and Wong both worked for the Basement Workshop, which was one of the first Asian-American political, community, and arts organizations in New York City. This series contains files on projects produced by this organization, including proofs for the record album A Grain of Sand: Music for the Struggle by Asians in America and production files for the publication Yellow Pearl. Organizational records also contain photographs, promotional material, event announcements, and member lists. Many of the printed items contain Arai's artwork.
This series also contains meeting notes, letterhead, event announcements, member lists, correspondence, historic timelines, and newsletters for the Godzilla Asian American Arts Network, a New York-based Asian American arts collective and support network in the 1990s, of which Arai was a founding member. Planning files on the exhibition A New World Order are in this series, as well as a Godzilla award figurine, two graphic hats, a t-shirt, newsletters, and a video recording containing interviews with Godzilla members.
Other New York organizations with files in this series are the Museum of Chinese in the Americas (previously the New York Chinatown History Project), New York Asian Women's Center, United Asian Communities Center, Asian American Arts Alliance, and Chinatown Health Clinic. These files typically include event invitations and programs, informational brochures and booklets, posters, and correspondence. There is also a small collection of buttons in this series, documenting various Asian political causes and arts groups.
Asian American Resource Material, 1966-1994, inclusive
Asian American Community Event Posters, 1970, 1985, undated, inclusive
Gidra: Monthly of the Asian American Community, 1971-1874, 1990, inclusive
Cityarts Workshop, 1972-2006, inclusive
Basement Workshop, 1972-1988, inclusive
Basement Workshop -- A Grain of Sand: Music for the Struggle by Asians in America Phonodisc, and Concert Poster Printed and Designed by Legan Wong, 1973, 1997, inclusive
Basement Workshop -- Yellow Pearl Production Files, 1972-1997, 2009, inclusive
United Asian Community Center, 1972-1974, inclusive
Asian American Studies Conferences, 1973, 1980, 1997-2003, inclusive
Asian American Groups, 1977-1994, inclusive
Event Posters Illustrated by Mary Hom, 1979-1982, inclusive
Women's Groups Promotional Material, 1979-1994, inclusive
Japanese Americans -- Exhibitions, Museum, and Los Angeles Cultural Organizations, 1981-2001, inclusive
New York Asian Women's Center, 1983-1997, undated, inclusive
Museum of Chinese in the Americas (MOCA) / New York Chinatown History Project -- Exhibitions, Board Material, Promotional Ephemera, 1983-2005, inclusive
New Asian Times and Asian New Yorker, 1988-1989, 1993-1995, inclusive
Asian American Arts Alliance, 1991-2003, inclusive
Godzilla Asian American Art Network -- Member Lists, Event and Exhibition Announcements, Clippings, 1991-2002, inclusive
Godzilla Asian American Art Network -- Timeline, Newsletters, 1991-1994, 2004, inclusive
Godzilla Asian American Art Network -- T-Shirt, Hats, Godzilla Award, circa 1990s-2000s, inclusive
Godzilla Asian American Art Network -- From Basement to Godzilla: Asian American Activism in the Arts Video Recording and Limited Edition Portfolio, 1998
Asian American Arts Centre, 2009, undated, inclusive
Assorted Buttons (12) -- For Political Causes, Community Organizations, and Cultural Institutions, undated, inclusive
Chinatown Health Clinic Benefit -- Event Poster, undated, inclusive
Series II. Tomie Arai Artwork, 1970-2010, inclusive
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Scope and Contents
This series contains materials created and accumulated by Arai on the research, production, and exhibition of her artwork, as well as her involvement in the Asian American arts community in New York. The overlap in her artwork and activism is often apparent in the art theme, her projects, and where the works are shown.
Arai's large collection of exhibition catalogues and ephemera by Asian artists in this series spans the 1970s to the 2000s and not only shows artists active during this timeframe but also the themes that were popular during various decades, as well as which New York galleries and museums were representing and showing their work.
This series also contains a comprehensive collection of Arai's own exhibition catalogues, announcements, fliers, and related correspondence dating from 1970 to 2000s which shows the volume of projects she was involved with from year to year. The correspondence especially illustrates the work involved to promote herself and her art, apply for funding, plan exhibitions, loan out artworks, and network with galleries and institutions. Projects of note include Double Happiness and Mi Familia Mi Comunidad and Renewal, which was commissioned for the African Burial Ground National Monument.
Work files, publications, and posters related to Arai's printmaking and illustration work date from the 1970s to the 1990s, mostly for local New York organizations including Cityarts, Basement Workshop, and Chinatown Health Clinic. These posters are often multi-lingual, depending on the organization. Publications containing Arai's work include Heresies, Upfront, and East Village Review. Arai also illustrated a children's book China's Bravest Girl, and this series contains correspondence, reviews, promotional material as well as the book.
Throughout her career, Arai was the recipient of many residencies and fellowships to fund the progress of her art and related projects. This series includes files for Goddard-Riverside Community Center, New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), MoMA PS 1, MacDowell Colony, and Cummington Artist Colony and usually contain correspondence, applications, project reports, and event announcements. Material related to her 1998 Artist in Residency with the New York University Asian/Pacific/American Institute are also in this series.
Film, Performances, and Theater by Asian Americans -- Event and Promotional Ephemera, 1970-2008, inclusive
Exhibitions by Asian Artists -- Catalogues and Ephemera, 1970s, inclusive
Exhibitions by Asian Artists -- Catalogues and Ephemera, 1980s, inclusive
Exhibitions by Asian Artists -- Catalogues and Ephemera, 1990s, inclusive
Exhibitions by Asian Artists -- Catalogues and Ephemera, 2000s, inclusive
Exhibitions by Asian Artists -- Catalogues and Ephemera, undated, inclusive
Calendar Posters -- One is Me... , and Year of the Pig 1983, 1972, 1983, inclusive
Drawings and Illustrations for Movement Leaflets, circa 1972-1979, inclusive
Drawings and Illustrations for Community Groups, 1972-1985, inclusive
Drawings, Proofs, and Prints for Events, Organizations, and Publications, 1972-2004, undated, inclusive
Drawings and Illustrations for Asian Women's Groups, 1974-1982, inclusive
Drawings for Publications -- Bridge, East Wind, and Others, 1975-1989, inclusive
Arai Exhibitions -- Catalogues and Ephemera, 1976-1978, inclusive
Arai Exhibitions -- Catalogues and Ephemera, 1980s, inclusive
Arai Exhibitions -- Catalogues and Ephemera, 1990s, inclusive
Arai Exhibitions -- Catalogues and Ephemera, 2006, inclusive
Chinatown Health Clinic Event Posters, circa 1970s-1980s, inclusive
Illustrations -- Interracial Books for Children, 1976, inclusive
Illustrations -- Winning Justice for All Student and Teacher Workbooks, circa 1977-1978, inclusive
Illustrations -- Ethnic Woman Magazine, 1980, inclusive
Illustrations -- Heresies, 1980-1990, inclusive
Correspondence -- Re: Exhibitions, Donations, Artwork, 1980-1995, 2001-2002, undated, inclusive
Memory in Progress: Mother/Daughter Project -- Exhibition Files, Promotional Material, Clipping, 1982-1989, inclusive
Lucy Lippard, Heresies, and PADD (Political Art Documentation/Distribution) Projects, 1982-1998, inclusive
PADD (Political Art Documentation/Distribution) Publication -- Upfront, 1983-1986, inclusive
Printmaking Workshop, 1985-1995, 2003, inclusive
Printshops -- Information, 1985-2010, inclusive
Goddard-Riverside Community Center -- Exhibitions and Programs, 1986-1992, inclusive
Coast to Coast: National Women Artists of Color -- Exhibitions, Promotional Material, Newsletters, Posters, 1986-1997, inclusive
Printshops -- Women's Studio Workshop and Avocet, 1986-2005, inclusive
Printshop -- Lower East Side Printshop, 1986-2005, inclusive
Ikon Magazine -- Illustrations and Projects, 1987-1990, inclusive
Press Clippings, 1987-1998, inclusive
Cummington Community and School of the Arts -- Participant Material, 1989, inclusive
Memories of New York Chinatown -- Banner Installation and Exhibition, 1991, inclusive
PS 1 -- National Studio Program, 1990-1991, inclusive
NYFA (New York Foundation for the Arts) -- Fellowship and Residency, 1990-1995, inclusive
Illustrations -- China's Bravest Girl -- Correspondence, Promotional Material, Book, 1990-2009, inclusive
Illustrations -- New York Asian Women's Center Newsletter,Visions, Printed in English, Chinese and Korean, 1991, inclusive
Cover Art -- North Star Fund Annual Report, 1991, inclusive
Chinese y Criollo Collaborative Oral History and Art Project -- Interview Transcripts, Planning Files, Promotional Material, Source Files, 1992-1998, inclusive
MacDowell Colony Residency, 1993-1994, inclusive
Women of Hope: African Americans Who Made a Difference -- Poster Art and Exhibition, 1993-1996, inclusive
Pew Fellowship in the Arts and New York State Regional Initiative -- Panel Member Material, 1993-1997, inclusive
African Burial Ground -- Renewal -- Work Files, 1993-1999, inclusive
New York Foundation for the Arts -- Advisory Panel Material, 1993-2000, inclusive
Cover Art and Proof -- New York Newsday, 1995, inclusive
Illustration -- On the Wings of Peace, 1995, inclusive
MTA Artwork and Exhibition, 1995, 2005, inclusive
Nisei Baseball Project, 1996-1998, inclusive
Transforming Barbed Wire Arts Project, 1996-1998, inclusive
Double Happiness Exhibition -- Interviews, Promotional Material, Catalogue, Planning Notes, 1997-1998, inclusive
NYU Asian / Pacific / American Institute Residency, 1997-1999, 2003-2004, inclusive
Mi Familia Mi Comunidad Exhibition Planning Files, 1997-1999, inclusive
Self-Help Graphics Residency -- LA Culture Workshop Promotional Material, Teaching Notes, Correspondence, 1998-2000, inclusive
Image of Artwork -- Mural Arts Program Wall Calendar, 2002, inclusive
Stories from La Colonia China Exhibition -- Promotional Material, Slides, Correspondence, 2002-2003, inclusive
St. Paul Public School -- Curriculum Aids for Teaching About Minority Women, and Artist (Arai) Profile Poster, undated, inclusive
Series III. Legan Wong Work Files, 1969-2009, inclusive; 1970-1990, bulk
Extent
Extent
Scope and Contents
This series includes material on Legan Wong's work on development of Asian American Studies classes, music production, and his involvement in activist and local cultural organizations in New York in the 1970s and 1980s.
This series contains source material, lecture notes, course outlines, and correspondence related to Wong's development of college classes on the Asian American experience that he created and taught at Queens College and Hunter College in the 1970s. General research files and conference material on Asian American Studies are also in this series.
Wong was involved in performance groups in the 1970s and 1980s including Soh Daiko, a folk music drum group, and the Asian Tactical Theater. These files typically include performance programs and schedules, financial reports, promotional material, news clippings, correspondence, notes, and meeting minutes. Wong was also on Team Ronin in the Asian American Softball League of New York in the late 1970s. Team material in this series includes member identification cards with photographs, schedules, correspondence, and rosters.
This series contains a small amount of files on Wong's involvement in the 1980s as a founding member of East West World Records, which was founded to provide recording opportunities for Asian American artists. These files include concert promotional material, news clippings, letterhead, financial funding, and founding documentation. This series also includes two of the record albums the company produced: Visions, and Back to Back.
Newsclippings, newsletters, and promotional material for various political groups in which Wong was involved include the Asian Americans for Equal Employment (AAFEE) and Asian in the Spirit of the Indochinese (ASI) are also in this series.
Asian American Experience Class -- Source Material, Lecture Plans, Correspondence, Promotional Material, 1969-1976, 1980, undated, inclusive
Asian American-Related Conference Material, 1970-1977, inclusive
Queens College -- Asian American Club, 1971-1972, inclusive
Asian American Movement Print Material, 1971-1983, inclusive
Asian Tactical Theater, 1972, inclusive
N.Y. Asian Coalition Newsletter, 1972-1973, inclusive
Asian American Studies -- City College of New York Controversy, 1972-1974, inclusive
Asian Americans for Action -- Newsletter, 1972-1976, inclusive
Asian in the Spirit of the Indochinese (ASI) -- Meeting Notes and Minutes, Event Promotional Material, Informational Booklets, 1973-1974, inclusive
Mid-Atlantic Conference on Community Concerns of Asian Americans -- Event Program, 1974, inclusive
Asian Americans for Equal Employment (AAFEE) -- Clippings, Publications, Event Posters, 1974-1977, 2009, inclusive
Asian American Softball League, New York -- Ronin Team Player Cards, League Communications, Schedules, 1978-1979, 1998, inclusive
Soh Daiko -- Taiko Performance Group, 1979-1987, inclusive
East West World Records -- Clippings, Correspondence, Album Cover Art Proofs, 1982-1991, inclusive
East West World Records -- Phonodiscs -- Visions, and Back to Back, 1982-1983, inclusive
Series IV. Tomie Arai Early Life and Family, 1937-2006, inclusive; 1942-1965, bulk
Extent
Extent
Extent
Scope and Contents
This series contains materials documenting Arai's early adult life, as well as items created and collected by other family members including her parents, Tim and Tomoe, and her uncle. Arai's school awards, class photographs, and newsletters containing Arai illustrations are mostly from Booker T. Washington Junior High School. Later 1960s photographs of Arai as a young activist are also in this series.
Record albums from Tim and Tomoe's personal collection in this series include a 1937 Billie Holiday album, a signed copy of the soundtrack for the Broadway show, Flower Drum Song, and Asian American Broadway performer Pat Suzuki's signed album. A history and correspondence related to the New York Buddhist Church in this series relates to the life-long involvement of Arai and her parents in this church community, which also includes photographs from the 1950s of a Bon Odori Festival in Riverside Park. Other items collected by Tim and Tomoe include a print portfolio and newsletters of the Nisei Progressives from the 1950s, publications related to Tim's publication editorial work in the 1940s and 1970s, including a program that also includes Tomie Arai's artwork on the cover.
Material collected from Arai's parents also include items specifically related to the Japanese American experience during and following World War II in the United States. Items include two Japanese American "yearbook" directories from 1948 and 1949, printed in Japanese and English, one for New York and the other for the entire United States. These directories listed addresses for Japanese individuals which included Tim and Tomoe, and Asian-owned companies. A master's thesis including an interview with Tomoe Arai related to college women and Japanese American wartime incarceration is in this series. Other materials collected by Tomoe Arai include general informational booklets, publications, and articles on the incarceration of Japanese Americans with some specifically related to Tule Lake War Relocation Center and the Granada Relocation Center (also known as Camp Amache), concentration camps in California and Colorado, respectively. Also of note in this series are 15 original watercolor paintings of the Topaz Relcation Center by Arai's paternal uncle, Unosuke Sasahi, which were created during 1943 to 1944 during his incarceration. A 1943 informational booklet on the Granada Relocation Center in Amache, Colorado was given to Tomie Arai's grandparents when they were transferred from the Tule Lake War Relocation Center. Promotional material and schedules from a 1991 pilgrimage event to Tule Lake National Park are also in this series
