Our Chapter, supported by the Marysville Buddhist Church Office and former Sutter County Museum Director Jessica Hougen, partnered with Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture to apply for a California State Library Grant. Yuba Sutter Arts Executive Director David Read took the lead, placed the application for us and was successful in being awarded a grant that covers everything we asked for. Work on the following projects have proceeded despite delays due to COVID conditions.
Barrack Replica
This exhibit currently at the Sutter County Museum is on loan from the Valene L. Smith Museum of Anthropology at California State University, Chico. The replica barrack was constructed by Stan Umeda, and Calvin Asoo to demonstrate what daily life was like at the Tule Lake Internment Camp.
Day Of Remembrance Exhibit
Our annual Day of Remembrance exhibit consisted of a series of photos and texts mounted on story boards, telling the local Japanese American story from arrival in the US, through the war years and the postwar era. Repeated use had taken its toll and it was time to update the exhibit.
Itano Tapes
In 1986, oral historian and photo archivist Terry Ishimaru Itano interviewed a number of local people about their personal experiences in the Japanese American community. Terry recorded the sessions on cassette tape and secured release forms from all participants. The material has been digitized and is currently being transcribed by Sutter County Museum Assistant Curator Sharyl Simmons. Look for Sharyl’s article Frank Nakamura Remembers in the Winter 2022 Sutter County Museum Bulletin.
Kamishibai
Kamishibai (paper play) is a form of Japanese storytelling that uses illustrated story boards and a small wooden stage. We have acquired five different sets of children’s stories and two stages. The first presentation of the story Kon and Pon was made at this year’s Day of Remembrance program on Saturday February 19, 2022. We are currently working with several organizations to plan more presentations.
Marysville JACL Library
Books and videos related to the WWII internment of Japanese Americans were purchased to build our library. The first part of the order has been received and will be used as a resource in planning future Day of Remembrance events.
Memorial Garden
For many years a Japanese Garden held a prominent position by the Yuba College library. Over time the garden became neglected and all but forgotten. The original plaque was relocated to the JACL Room at the Marysville Buddhist Church while plans are being made to revive and rededicate the garden. It is still a work in progress.
Philatelic Commemorative
For the 2019 Day of Remembrance we created a set of three commemorative envelopes featuring three different pictorial cancellations. We plan on producing a pictorial cancellation for the rededication of the Arboga Assembly Center Memorial Park. A ceremony is tentatively planned for October 2022.
Posters
Chapter archives contain original copies of the 1942 posters addressed to “ALL PERSONS OF JAPANESE ANCESTRY” that had been posted in Yuba City and Marysville. When the posters were displayed at the 2019 Day of Remembrance event it was discovered that they needed to be removed from their frames. To avoid continued exposure to harmful elements, the posters have been photographed and digital copies made and printed. The copies will be framed and displayed in the JACL Room at Marysville Buddhist Church and the originals stored at the Sutter County Museum.
The Road Not Forgotten
The Road Not Forgotten: The Journey of Japanese Descendants in Butte, Colusa, Sutter and Yuba Counties (1889 – 1995) was published by the Marysville Chapter Japanese American Citizens League Historical Book Committee in 1995. The book remains one of the best sources of information on local Japanese American history but is out of print. To make it available, we had the book scanned to create a digital version. Click below to view the book online. Please allow time for it to download as it is a larger file.
Soldier Photographs
Chapter archives contain a number of 35mm slides but no information as to how JACL acquired them. Each slide shows an unidentified soldier in uniform. The images have been digitized to preserve them and to post on the website in the hope that the individuals can be identified. Please contact us if you recognize anyone in these photos.
Website
With the creation of this website we finally have a presence on the internet.