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Finding Aid for the Kango Takamura Paintings, 1942-1945
433
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Title: Kango Takamura Paintings,
Date (inclusive): 1942-1945
Collection number: 433
Creator:
Takamura, Kango, 1895-1990
Extent: 1 box (.5 linear ft.)
2 oversize boxes
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library.
Department of Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Abstract: Kango Takamura (1895-1994) was an photo retoucher for RKO Studios in Los Angeles when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese
Imperial Navy. He was detained by the FBI in 1942 after offering to sell a motion-picture camera to a visiting Japanese general.
He was interned at Santa Fe, New Mexico for several months and then moved to a camp at Manzanar, California, where he joined
his wife, daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter. He remained at Manzanar with his family until 1945. While at Manzanar, Takamura
depicted his surroundings in drawings and watercolors. He also worked as a camp sign-maker at Santa Fe and as curator for
a small museum at Manzanar. After the war, he returned to Hollywood and worked at RKO Studios for another twenty-five years
before retiring. The collection consists of 77 watercolor paintings produced during World War II while Kango Takamura was
detained at the Santa Fe Internment Camp, New Mexico, and the Manzanar Internment Camp, California. Also included are paper
mounts and one photographic reproduction of a painting.
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Language:
English.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights in the physical object belong to YRL Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained
by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue
the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where Special Collections does not hold the copyright.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Advance notice required for access.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Kango Takamura, 1974.
[Identification of item], Kango Takamura Paintings (Collection 433). Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, UCLA.
Kango Takamura was an Issei artist born in Kumamoto-ken, Japan in January of 1895. He immigrated to the United States when
he was seventeen years old. Takamura spent ten years in Hawaii and then went to New York after becoming interested in the
motion picture industry. After a short stay at the Paramount Studios offices in Long Island he moved to Hollywood. He was
working as a photo retoucher for RKO Studios in Los Angeles when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese Imperial Navy.
Takamura was detained by the FBI in 1942 after offering to sell a motion-picture camera to a visiting Japanese general. He
was interned at Santa Fe, New Mexico for several months and then moved to a camp at Manzanar, California, where he joined
his wife, daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter. He remained at Manzanar with his family until 1945. Takamura was not allowed
to take photographs during his stays at Santa Fe and Manzanar but he depicted his surroundings in drawings and watercolors.
He also worked as a camp sign-maker at Santa Fe and as curator for a small museum at Manzanar. When Takamura left Manzanar
he returned to Hollywood and worked at RKO Studios for another twenty-five years before retiring. Takamura lived in Los Angeles
until he passed away in January, 1990 at 94 years old.
Collection consists of 77 watercolor paintings produced during World War II while Kango Takamura was detained at the Santa
Fe Internment Camp, New Mexico, and the Manzanar Internment Camp, California. Also included are paper mounts and one photographic
reproduction of a painting.
Arranged in the following series:
- Manzanar.
- Santa Fe.
The series names identify the place where the paintings in each series were produced.
Processed by Laura Ward, October 2003.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Takamura, Kango, 1895-1990--Archives.
Santa Fe Internment Camp (Santa Fe, N.M.)--Pictorial works.
Manzanar War Relocation Center--Pictorial works.
Japanese American painters--Archival resources.
Japanese Americans--Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945--Archival resources.
Watercolors.