Pacific Northwest Japanese American Primary Sources

Welcome to the Japanese American Newspapers subset.

The purpose of this project is to create a portal to significant primary sources describing the experience of the Japanese American community in the Pacific Northwest. Some digital sources are being developed by UW Libraries; some are at other institutions, most notably JARDA at the University of California, Berkeley. A few projects are well developed (Click on "Links" at left of page); others are in the early stages of identification, selection and organization, with an eventual goal of conversion to fully searchable electronic format.

The Pacific Northwest Japanese American Newspaper subset will concentrate on digitizing selected community newspapers from the earliest publishing period for which we have files (1908, possibly earlier), through the growth years of the 1920's and 1930's, the period of internment, the immediate post-war period, and up to the turn of the new century, nearly a full 100 years of coverage. Click on "Community Newspapers" at left of page for a timeline showing the chronological coverage of the newspapers. We propose to begin with the earliest material which is free of copyright constraints, while we negotiate permissions for more recently published materials. This project is still in the planning stages. Critical steps are outlined below:

I. Develop a Funding Strategy

• Community involvement & publicity
• Six-part newspaper series, North American Post
• Intellectual content
• Technology and access

II.Complete bibliographic and holdings research

• Continue title searches and holdings records
• Evaluate need for new preservation microfilming or refilming
  

III.Complete development of the JANP Website

• Identify related electronic sites
• Develop list of supplemental primary sources
  

IV.Produce the digital project

• Publish 135,000 digitized pages of searchable newspaper pages
• Digitize appropriate supplemental primary sources and other materials

The scope of this project is ambitious, and will result in the most extensive, in-depth digital resource focusing on a single Pacific Northwest ethnic community. It will also provide invaluable insights into the relationships among all population groups in the region, examine the economic, cultural, political and social ties that work for and against successful community building, and provide an unmatched treasure of research material available to all interested parties.

The University of Washington Libraries in partnership with the local community and other institutions hopes to make this project the first of many steps on a road of intellectual discovery to understanding our shared history and experience.