Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Shima, Shinkichirō (島辰吉朗)
- Abstract:
- Shinkichirō Shima was born in 1877 in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, and arrived at San Francisco in 1894. He was a devoted Christian and poet, and worked as a cactus nurseryman in Southern California. During World War II, he was incarcerated in the Manzanar Relocation Center. The collection consists of a diary, correspondence, religious poems and various religious writings.
- Extent:
- 3 boxes (1.5 linear ft.)
- Language:
- English and Japanese.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection consists of a diary, correspondence, and various writings related to the life of Shinkichirō Shima. The diary, in Japanese, begins when he left Yokohama for the United States on board the Empress of China (October 9, 1894) with subsequent entries made on memorable occasions. It includes descriptions of voyages when Shima traveled between the U.S. and Japan from 1898 to 1918, and documents the matters of his cactus export business to Japan. It also covers the time period when Shima was incarcerated in the Santa Fe Assembly Center and the Manzanar Relocation Center (1942-1946), depicting life in the camps in a Japanese poetic form.
Three notebooks contain his drafts of letters, in English and Japanese, some of which were written in the Manzanar Relocation Center while he was incarcerated. These include descriptions of camp life conditions as well as his participation in the Guayule project to propagate rubber plants at the Manzanar Relocation Center, and his family situations in Japan. The drafts also include English letters asking his friends to manage his bank accounts and Japanese letters discussing business plans for trading between US and Japan.
Other writings include manuscripts for religious poems, 霊帳 Reichō, Daily blessing, hymns compiled in a Japanese poetic form in the Manzanar Relocation Center, excerpts from the Bible and verses, and other religious writings.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Shinkichirō Shima was born in 1877 in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, and arrived at San Francisco in 1894 on board the Empress of China. He was baptized at a Methodist church in 1898 and became a devoted Christian. During World War II, he was incarcerated in the Santa Ana Assembly Center and transferred to the Manzanar Relocation Center on July 31, 1942. In the Manzanar Relocation Center, he joined the Guayule project, propagating rubber plans. He was also a poet and worked as a cactus nurseryman in Southern California, exporting cacti to Japan.
- Arrangement:
-
Materials are arranged as follows:
- Personal papers (Box 136)
- Hymns in a Japanese poetic form (Box 136)
- 霊帳 Reichō (Box 136)
- Manuscripts for "Daily blessing" (Box 137)
- Religious poems and various religious writings (Boxes 137-138)
- Physical location:
- Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Indexed terms
Access and use
- Location of this collection:
-
A1713 Charles E. Young Research LibraryBox 951575Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
- Contact:
- (310) 825-4988