Midori Shimanouchi Lederer Papers
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
Born in California, Midori Shimanouchi Lederer (1923-2005) founded JASSI, Inc. (Japanese American Social Services), a non-profit organization based in New York City dedicated to addressing gaps in social services for the Japanese American community. In 1942, Shimanouchi and her family were forcibly removed from their home and incarerated with 110,00 other Nisei at the Central Utah Relocation Center, a concentration camp (euphemistically referred to as an internment camp) in Topaz, Utah. She later worked for director Michael Todd from 1952 to 1958 and as a press agent for Bill Doll and Company in New York City from 1959 to 1979. The papers document both her personal and professional life, including her activism efforts for the Japanese American community from the early 1980s until the late 1990s. Materials in the collection include correspondence, oral history transcripts, biographical and family history information, audio and videocassette tapes, photographs, and clippings. Of note are materials concerning Japanese forced removal and incarceration during World War II, including National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) records and scholarly publications that incorporate interviews of Shimanouchi Lederer.
Biographical Note
Midori Shimanouchi Lederer (1923-2005) was the founder and president of Japanese American Social Services, Inc. (JASSI), which was established to address gaps in social and cultural service needs of the Japanese and Japanese American community. She founded JASSI when she was nearing retirement age in 1981. JASSI still remains the only East Coast organization that continues to provide a wide range of social services catering to Japanese and Japanese Americans.
Born in 1923 to immigrant parents in Fresno, California, Shimanouchi was the youngest of five children. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, she and her family were forcibly removed from their home and incarerated with 110,00 other Nisei at the Central Utah Relocation Center, a concentration camp (euphemistically referred to as an internment camp) in Topaz, Utah. Before World War II, Shimanouchi was a student at University of California at Berkeley. While at the camp, she appealed to the United States government to permit her to continue her studies. Her request was granted and she resumed her studies at Pace College in New York City in 1943.
In 1952, Shimanouchi became the secretary to film producer Michael Todd. Despite having no background or work-related experience in the film industry, she served multiple roles as office manager, secretary, chief assistant and diplomat, and was Michael Todd's production assistant for Around the World in 80 Days, which earned five Academy Awards. Following Todd's death in 1958, she worked for a year on a film being made in Spain by Michael Todd, Jr. In 1960 she joined the firm formed by Todd's press agent, Bill Doll and Company, a top New York firm of press agents at the time. As vice president of Bill Doll and Co., she handled publicity for Federico Fellini, Maurice Chevalier, Judy Garland, Louis Armstrong, Andre Watts and other prominent artists, which garnered her the title from media outlets as "Broadway's Number 1 Lady Press Agent."
At the height of her career as a publicist, Shimanouchi married Peter Lederer in 1966. Five years later, she retired and with the encouragement of her husband began to channel her energies toward community volunteer work. In 1971, Shimanouchi began volunteering at a drug rehabilitation agency at the Lower East Side Center, which specialized in helping elderly Chinese individuals experiencing drug dependence. She continued in aiding the senior community by volunteering for the Japanese American Help for the Aging (JAHFA) in 1979. After working with the Japanese American Senior Support Group, Shimanouchi founded JASSI in 1981 at the age of 58. With volunteers Kimi Shimizu and Cyril Nishimoto and a $5000 start-up fund, together they began providing counseling services to Japanese seniors from Shimanouchi's dining room table. With additional fundraising efforts, JASSI then secured the necessary funds to ensure all clients received services free of charge. Shimanouchi's philosophy in social services was to never turn anyone away in need of help. As a result, JASSI's services quickly grew to encompass a broad range of needs, including legal and immigration services, and assistance to restaurant workers, abused women and international students. JASSI's mission further expanded with Shimanouchi's creation of a support group in Japan.
In recognition of her community activism, Shimanouchi was the first Japanese American woman to receive the Ellis Island Honorary Award in 1992. The following year, she received an Outstanding Asian Americans Award from Governor Mario Cuomo, and a Justice in Action award from the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund in 1997. Her efforts to build bridges between social work for the aged in the United States and Japan also earned her The Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Emperor of Japan. Shimanouchi was a founding member of the board of the Asian American Federation of New York and served on the boards of The Methodist Church Home for the Aged and the Japanese American Association of New York.
Shimanouchi died on March 9, 2005, at the age of 82.
Arrangement
The collection consists of the following series:
Series I: Personal and Biographical Materials, circa 1890-2004
Series II: Professional Files, 1958-2004
Series III: Audio / Visual Materials, circa 1980s - 2004
Folders within the series are arranged alphabetically.
Scope and Contents
The collection contains the personal and professional records of Midori Shimanouchi Lederer, the founding director of JASSI. Materials within the collection include photograph albums, biographical information, personal documents, news clippings, research notes, oral history tapes with transcripts, and collected videos.
Comprised primarily of photographs from the 1890s - 1980s, the albums document her family history in California, her professional career as a successful Hollywood publicist, and JASSI events. Materials related to her family's forced removal and incarceration during World War II include her personal NARA file and scholarly articles. The oral history cassette tapes in Series III are accompanied by transcripts in Series I, which detail Shimanouchi Lederer's major phases in life including childhood and family experience in California; incarceration at the Central Utah Relocation Center, a concentration camp in Topaz, Utah; her involvement in Japanese American activism; and the founding of JASSI.
Subjects
Organizations
People
Topics
Donors
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Midori Shimanouchi Lederer were transferred to New York University in 2011 by Peter D. Lederer and Mari Miya. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive. Please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Midori Shimanouchi Lederer Papers; TAM 596; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Mori Miya and Peter D. Lederer in circa 2004, with an accretion donated in March 2020. The accession numbers associated with this collection are 2011.135 and 2020.023.
Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures
Audiovisual materials have not been preserved and may not be available to researchers. Materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact special.collections@nyu.edu with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.
About this Guide
Processing Information
As documents formerly lacked categorization and chronology, order was imposed to create separation between personal and professional files, as well as folder level organization. The original arrangement of photo albums was retained. Binders and sticky backing were removed for preservation purposes and photos were re-sleeved. Many photos were identified by Peter Lederer in October 2012 and the information he supplied is denoted in bracket form on the back of each photo. The folders comprising the 2020 accretion were intellectually integrated into the collection's existing series and alphabetic order. In September 2020, narrative description and individual folder titles were edited to more accurately describe the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. In October 2020, Midori Shimanouchi Lederer's biographical note was updated to correct harmful language regarding drug use and dependence.
Researchers can access previous versions of the finding aid in our GitHub repository at https://github.com/NYULibraries/findingaids_eads/commits/master/tamwag/tam_596.xml.
Revisions to this Guide
Repository
Series I: Personal and Biographical Materials, circa 1890-2004, inclusive
Scope and Contents
The files contained in this series document Shimanouchi-Lederer's personal life. Materials include legal and personal documents, unpublished book transcripts, personal correspondence, research articles, and newspaper clippings. Included in the family history files are media clippings, pamphlets belonging to Shizue Shimanouchi, and writings of Henry Toshio Shimanouchi, former General Consul of Japan. The bulk of materials are photo albums covering family history during their settlement in Los Angeles and San Francisco, California (1890-1970). Of significance are Shimanouchi-Lederer's NARA files that document her family's forced removal and incarceration at the Topaz Relocation Center, with government records and her application to the War Relocation Authority for leave of clearance to pursue a university education. This series also includes extensive oral history transcripts her childhood struggles where Lederer describes her childhood struggles growing up as a Japanese American during the pre-WW II era, her marriages, incarceration experience, career rise in the Hollywood publicity circuit, and grassroots organizing to create JASSI. Also of note are copies of scholarly publications and news articles that integrate Shimanouchi-Lederer's interviews on her incarceration experience.
Academic Certificates, 1928-1937, inclusive
Biographies, 1990-2002, inclusive
Book Transcript (unpublished): "Must We Perish?", undated
Clippings, 1996, 1981, 2005
Family History: Photographs, circa 1930-1960
Family History: Photograph Negatives, circa 1940-1950
Family History: Shimanouchi Album, circa 1890-1970
Family History: Shimanouchi, Henry Toshiro, 1932, 1942, 1981
Family History: Shimanouchi, Shizue, 1971
Japanese American Forced Removal and Incarceration: Articles, 1992-1993, inclusive
Japanese American Forced Removal and Incarceration: National Archives Records, 1941-1943, inclusive
Oral History Transcript, 2002, 2004
Oral History Transcript: Notes, 2002-2004, inclusive
Personal Album, Part I, 1984-1985, inclusive
Personal Album, Part II, Jul 1985 - Dec 1985
Personal Correspondence, 1958-2002, inclusive
Personal Documents, 1923, 1943, 1958, 1966
Personal Photograph Album, circa 1980s-1990s, inclusive
Personal Photographs, circa 1950-1990s, inclusive
Personal Photographs: Negatives, circa 1970
Personal Research, 1965-1984, inclusive
Various Items of Personal Interest, 1948, 1967-1968, 1996-1997
Series II: Professional Files, 1958-2004
Scope and Content Note
Files within this series relate to Shimanouchi-Lederer's professional career as a manager and secretary for Mike Todd Company, a press agent for Bill Doll Company, and her tenure as director of JASSI. The bulk of materials within the series are photographs, some of which are retained in the original order of the albums. Photographs from her Michael Todd days document Shimanouchi alongside Michael Todd and former wife, Elizabeth Taylor, in private settings with other celebrities, as well as at other large red carpet events and venues. Papers from her time at the Michael Todd Company include various newspaper and media clippings, correspondence, press releases.
The Bill Doll and Company files are mainly comprised of photos, many of which were used for press releases and captured Shimanouchi with famed actors, directors and producers of the 1950s - 1960s. While a large folder of photos from Shimanouchi's publicity days remain unidentified, they offer a glimpse into the publicity networks with which Shimanouchi was affiliated.
Contents within the JASSI files document programming and events, organizational publications, newsletters, flyers and some correspondence. Writings by former JASSI volunteers and staff members provide contextual community history of JASSI. The bulk of JASSI materials are photo albums documenting various JASSI fundraising events and former staff members of the organization.
Bill Doll and Company, Inc.: Clippings, 1979
Bill Doll and Company, Inc.: Correspondence, 1959, 1979
Bill Doll and Company, Inc.: General, 1958-1967, inclusive
Bill Doll and Company, Inc.: Photographs, circa 1960-1970
Japanese American Social Services, Inc.(JASSI): Correspondence, 1983-1984, 1999, 2004
Japanese American Social Services, Inc.(JASSI): General, 1984, 2003
Japanese American Social Services, Inc.(JASSI): History, 1994, 2004
Japanese American Social Services, Inc.(JASSI) : Photographs, 1986, 1988
Japanese American Social Services, Inc.(JASSI): Photographs, 1986-1987, inclusive
Japanese American Social Services, Inc.(JASSI): Photographs, 1987-1989, inclusive
Michael Todd Company: Clippings, 1958
Michael Todd Company: Correspondence, 1957-1958, 1961
Michael Todd Company: Photographs, undated
Photographs: Unidentified, circa 1941-1960
Series III: Audio/Visual Materials
Scope and Content Note
This series contains cassette tapes documenting the oral history of Shimanouchi-Lederer during her early childhood days, her family's forced removal and incarceration during World War II, and her professional career as a manager for a Hollywood production company, press agent, and as founding director of JASSI. The transcripts accompanying the audio tapes are part of Series I.
The videos are recordings of broadcasts that include Shimanouchi-Lederer on academic panels discussing Social Justice for Asian Americans, and a Japanese televised special on her brother, Henry Toshiro Shimanouchi. Other recordings document JASSI fundraising concerts held in the early 1990s.
