Discover Digital Content
Discover Digital Content
Discover Digital Content
The JASC Legacy Center is constantly working to make digital content available for anybody to use at anytime, from anywhere in the world. From digitized photographs and documents to oral history interviews and even digitized motion picture film, we hold a wealth of fascinating material that helps to deepen our collective knowledge about the Japanese American experience in Chicago. Here is a sampling of our favorites for you to enjoy:
Resettled Roots
Created in 2019 by Anna Takada and Maria Pimentel, this half hour documentary explores the topics of WWII incarceration and postwar resettlement in Chicago through a blend of archival footage and oral history interviews with three generations of Japanese Americans. Resettled Roots incorporates many of the interviews from JASC’s Untold Stories oral history project and highlights the challenges faced by Japanese Americans as they rebuilt their lives after being unjustly incarcerated.
Issei Gerontology Project films
These four films were produced by JASC in 1975 as part of the Issei Gerontology Project, which focused on the needs of Chicago’s aging population of Issei, or first generation Japanese immigrants. The original 16mm films were preserved for decades in the JASC archives and digitized with grant funding and community support in 2019. They offer a rare opportunity to see and hear Issei speaking about their experiences, and also offer a glimpse into the programs and services of JASC in the mid-1970s.
Social Service: Seeking a Human Dimension
Issei: A Quality for Survival
Issei: A Final Say
Values and Attitudes II
JASC Oral History Collection
The JASC Legacy Center has many oral history interviews, some of which came to us as part of archival collections and some of which have been recorded by JASC as part of special projects at different points in time. Not all of these interviews are available online, but we are in the process of building our digital oral history collection and you can currently view almost sixty interviews recorded between 2017 and 2021. The digital collection also features full transcriptions of each interview, which allows for keyword searching across the entire collection. Click here to access the oral history collection.
Chicago Shimpo
The Chicago Shimpo began publication in 1945 and continues to the present day. This newspaper served as a vital source of information for Japanese Americans as they resettled in Chicago after being released from the incarceration camps. Today, it provides a window into the community’s growth and change, and is a vital source of information about events of the past. The JASC Legacy Center makes available digital copies of the Chicago Shimpo from 1945-1984. These digital images were scanned from microfilm and have not been through an optical character recognition process, so there is no way to search electronically for specific words or phrases. Luckily, the Hoover Institution Library and Archives at Stanford University has a full-text searchable database of Japanese diaspora newspapers that includes the Chicago Shimpo for the years 1945-1952.
JASC Legacy Center’s Chicago Shimpo Collection – in the “Collection Organization” sidebar, click to expand the “Microfilm, 1945-1984” series, and then select the year that you wish to view.
Hoover Institution’s Chicago Shimpo Collection
Digitized Archival Photographs
The JASC Legacy Center’s archival holdings include thousands of photographs, many of which have been digitized. We are currently migrating from one collection management system to another, and hope to restore access to these incredible images in the near future. As the migration proceeds, you will be able to access the images via the new platform for our archives here.
Digital Exhibits
Visit our Exhibits page for a list of exhibits past and present, most of which are viewable online!
Legacy Center Highlights
Our searchable database of finding aids provides background information and an inventory for each collection.
Use LibraryThing to check our holdings. All are welcome to use our books on-site, and JASC members can check out books if we hold more than one copy.
Engaging, image-rich exhibits to help illuminate the Japanese American experience in Chicago.
Our oral history collection features interviews with community members reflecting on a wide variety of topics from incarceration to contemporary activism.
Check out a documentary film on incarceration and resettlement and a series of four films from 1975 featuring Issei voices.
SUPPORT JASC
Looking for your next great read? Searching for the perfect gift? The JASC Bookshop has titles suitable for children, young adults, and adults on a wide range of topics. Find books about Japanese American history, books by Japanese American authors, books celebrating diversity, books about food and cooking, books about arts and culture, and more!
When you order any title through our shop, your purchase supports both JASC and local, independent bookstores. You get the convenience of online shopping and shipping to your home, with the knowledge that your consumer dollars are making a difference.
Search for a title using the bar below, or visit the shop to browse our lists of carefully selected titles for readers of all ages!