California State University Japanese American Digitization Implementation Grant

FAIN: PW-234690-16

California State University, Dominguez Hills Foundation (Carson, CA 90747-0001)
Gregory L. Williams (Project Director: July 2015 to August 2019)

The digitization of 5,000 personal writings, photographs, poetry, artwork, organizational records, and audiovisual recordings dealing with Japanese internment during World War II and Japanese American experiences more broadly, along with the transcription of 75 oral histories and digitization and transcription of 500 internment camp publications.

A consortium of California State University archives requests support for an Implementation project for the digitization of documents concerning the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. This proposal to digitize the extensive holdings of Japanese American materials in 15 CSU archives consists of four major steps: digitizing the materials, creating descriptive metadata for 5000+ digital objects, creating access through the project portal for online discoverability, and contextualizing the objects with website enhancements. With the assistance of the archivists, associated staff, and consultants, this project will greatly enhance the existing beta-website (csujad.com) where all of the digital files and associated metadata are centralized. As a result of the NEH Foundations grant, the project plan has been vetted and formulated through onsite visits to seven campus archives, a two-day scholar's symposium, meetings, conference calls, and assessment activities.

Associated Products

California State University Japanese American Digitization Project (Web Resource)
Title: California State University Japanese American Digitization Project
Author: CSU Archives
Abstract: A consortium of California State University (CSU) archives participated in the CSU Japanese American Digitization Project (CSUJAD) which was funded by a 2016 NEH Humanities Collections and Reference Resources (HCRR) Implementation grant to digitize textual documents, images, and oral histories that shed light on the removal of 120,000 law-abiding U.S. residents of Japanese descent during World War II. In the end, 4,500+ records were cataloged using the NEH funding. Initial funding from NEH has led to other grant support, which has resulted in over 33,000 records being added to CSUJAD to date.
Year: 2016
Primary URL: http://www.csujad.com
Primary URL Description: With the combination of simultaneous digitization, standardized metadata creation proceeding at multiple campuses, digital curation and using the lessons learned from the 2014 NEH Foundations planning grant, the California State University Japanese American Digitization (CSUJAD) project has made 4,500 records accessible to the public in the portal at CSUJAD.com (combining them with the 10,000 records previously cataloged under a National Parks Service grant). In the end, 4,500+ records were cataloged using the NEH funding. Initial funding from NEH has led to other grant support, which has resulted in over 33,000 records being added to CSUJAD to date.
Secondary URL: http://csujad.com/edguides.html
Secondary URL Description: This portion of the CSUJAD website contains educational guides and resources for the classroom and students. An extensive lesson plan for teachers has been developed entitled “Incarceration of People of Japanese Descent During WWII: Loyalty Determination.” We had hoped to place a version of this lesson plan on the NEH’s EDSITEment! website, but it is unclear if lessons plans continue to be accepted.

And Then They Came For Us... (Exhibition)
Title: And Then They Came For Us...
Curator: Steven Kutay
Curator: Greg Williams
Abstract: The NEH funded CSUDH exhibition related to the 75th anniversary of Executive Order 9066 entitled “And Then They Came For Us…”opened on February 9, 2017, and ran through August 2017. On opening day, CSUDH held an all-day symposium with Satsuki Ina, Tom Ikeda and others. Details about the symposium as well as other events associated with this exhibit, such as the film, music, and lecture series (see appendices). The exhibition consisted of 250 archival materials and objects from the CSUDH collection. In addition, eight exhibition cases were filled with archival materials and interpretive items. The exhibition included 20 paintings of contemporary art and WWII era scenes, arts and crafts from the camps, 20 newspapers, 30 magazines, and several books.
Year: 2017
Primary URL: http://http://scalar.usc.edu/works/csujad-exhibit/index
Primary URL Description: This NEH CSUJAD project also created a digital exhibition entitled “CSUJAD: An Exhibit” at http://scalar.usc.edu/works/csujad-exhibit/index. It features curated images and documents from the CSUJAD database, including items that were also a part of the CSUDH exhibition, and teaching prompts that cover the time periods from early Japanese immigration through WWII and the Redress Movement. NEH is noted in the credits.
Secondary URL: http://http://digitalcollections.archives.csudh.edu/digital/collection/p16855coll4/search/searchterm/CSUJAD%20Project%20Resource%20Collection/field/collec/mode/all/conn/and/order/ark/ad/asc
Secondary URL Description: In addition, NEH funding assisted with the creation of ten posters and several wallpapers. The ten posters were displayed initially in the CSUDH exhibition, but because we were able to make pdf copies of the posters (see project products), they were offered to all of our partners to supplement an exhibition of each campus’ archival materials. This was highly successful with the posters being displayed at 15 separate campuses and they were also popular with the K-12 teachers who attended the CSUJAD workshops mentioned above. The exhibitions were extremely well received and making the exhibition posters readily available online provides important contextual materials for teaching about Incarceration.

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