Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Collection of Japanese American Newspapers
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Abstract
This collection groups 15 Japanese American newspaper titles originally contained within archival collections held at the Tamiment Library. Holdings include incomplete runs of publications dating from 1946 to 2014, published in New York, California, Colorado, Washington, and in Japan, with coverage chronicling responses to current events and highlighting progressive causes and cultural movements in the Japanese American community. The collection includes issues of Hokubai Shimpo and the New York Nichibei published between 1946 and 1993, and issues of Rafu Shimpo from the 2010s.
Historical Note
The New York Nichibei and its earlier incarnation, Hokubei Shimpo, served as a resource for news and opinion within the Japanese American community. The newspaper documented political developments in New York's Asian American Movement, born in Chinatown in the late 1960s and 1970s, the Asian American arts movement, and the redress movement of the 1970s and 1980s. The title also acted as an important outlet for Asian American writers. Regular contributors included Karl Akiya, Yuri Kochiyama, Kazu Ijima, Chris Ijima, and Fay Chiang, with stories otherwise gathered from mainstream newspapers, or submitted by members of the community. A range of progressive causes, from civil rights to women's and gay rights, were discussed within its pages. By 1980, a staff of four was printing 1,500 copies of New York Nichibei, approximately 80% for readers in the greater New York area and 20% for readers along the Eastern Seaboard and in California. The paper ended publication in 1993.
Arrangement
Titles are arranged in alphabetical order by publication title. Issues of each publication are organized chronologically.
Scope and Contents
The Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Collection of Japanese American Newspapers assembles issues of 15 newspapers intended for a Japanese American audience, published between 1946 and 2014 in New York, California, Colorado, Washington, and Japan. The collection is comprised of incomplete runs of daily and weekly newspapers extracted from archival collections, and from materials donated to Tamiment. The newspapers offer a contemporaneous account of life in Japanese American communities in the 20th century, and highlight a range of progressive causes in news stories and editorials, from civil rights to women's and gay rights. The collection includes extended runs of Hokubei Shimpo and New York Nichibei and short runs of regional newspapers from New York, Colorado, and Washington, chronicling community life in the 1980s, alongside international editions of Japanese newspapers documenting broader changes through the 1990s and early 2000s. These include Nisei Weekender; Yomiuri Shimbun; Pacific Citizen; New York Journal; Rocky Mountain Jiho; Asahi Shimbun International Edition; California Mainichi Shimbun; U.S. Japan Business News; OCS News; and Nichi Bei jiji. Recent issues of Rafu Shimpo, Nichi Bei Weekly, and North American Post provide insight into activities within different regional Japanese American communities in the early 21st century. No complete runs of publications are contained herein, and in some cases only the English-language pages of the newspaper are present.
Subjects
People
Topics
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection, created by Susan J. Onuma, was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Collection of Japanese American Newspapers; TAM.688; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Assembled from donations to the Tamiment Library from Susan J. Onuma, executor of the estate of Emi Kida, in 2004, and from Takako Wada in 2016. The accession number related to this gift is 2007.028.
In April 2025, Laura Chen-Schultz, Deputy Director of the Asian/Pacific/American Institute, donated a special pull-out section of Rafu Shimpo dated June 12, 2012. The accession number associated with this gift is 2025.035.
Custodial History
Individual titles are drawn from existing collections received by the Tamiment Library; further acquisition information regarding the parent collection is detailed in the Finding Aid for the Isaku Kida and Emi Kida Papers (TAM 165). Additional material was donated by Takako Wada and Japanese American Social Services Inc. (JASSI) in 2016, and Laura Chen-Schultz in 2025.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Materials in the collection were drawn from two donations to Tamiment Library. Copies of individual publications were combined and duplicate issues were deaccessioned. The collection has been stabilized and rehoused at the Barbara Goldsmith Conservation Laboratory.
In May 2025, a special pull-out section of the Rafu Shimpo dated June 12, 2012, was physically added to Box 25 Folder 2 with the publication's other issues, in chronological order.
