George Nakano Family Papers
Scope and Contents
The George Nakano Family Papers (1942-2014) contains 3.17 linear feet and 350.9 mb of books, booklets, proposals, facsimile newspaper articles, pamphlets, ephemera, and digitized scrapbooks related to George Nakano's life. George Nakano and his family were incarcerated at the Jerome and Tule Lake incarceration camps when he was six years old. Some of the material, including textbooks and drawings along with a cutting board, pin, and cane, are related to the Nakano family's incarceration during World War II. Noted are his elementary school materials collected and created by George Nakano when he was attending a Japanese school in the Tule Lake camp. Even though the school was located in the Tule Lake camp in Newell, California, it was established as one of Japanese National People's Schools to provide U.S. born children with Japanese education emphasizing loyalty to Japan. The curriculum was militaristic and nationalistic, and reflection and influence by wartime Japanese education are observed among language quizzes, compositions, and ethics textbooks. One of the materials contains the school's regulations, purposes, and policies on the back of the sheet. Other material, such as the scrolls, documents, and certificates are related to the Nakano family history.
Other documents, newspaper articles, and proposals are related to George Nakano's political career as Torrance City Council member (1984-1998) and California State Assemblymember (1998-2004). Topics related to his career include the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, the California Master Plan for Education, and other assembly bills and reports.
Dates
- 1942-2010
Creator
- Nakano , George (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
There are no access restrictions on this collection.
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Archives and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical materials and not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
George Nakano
George Nakano is a former Assemblymember and Torrance City Councilman. He grew up in Los Angeles before his family was sent to the Jerome and Tule Lake incarceration camps as a result of Executive Order 9066. At the end of the war, the Nakano family settled in East Los Angeles. After graduating high school, Nakano served in the California Air National Guard for six years before attending El Camino College and transferring to California State University, Los Angeles. He earned a Bachelors of Science degree in mathematics and began teaching at a k-12 school. In 1977, Nakano graduated with a Masters in Education and began working as an educational administrator at the Inglewood Unified School district. While working as the educational administrator, Nakano also served as a member of the Torrance City Council from 1984-1998. Nakano retired from the district in 1991 and was elected to the California State Legislature in 1998. He served in the California State Legislature in District 53 as the California State Assemblyman from 1998-2004.
Extent
7 boxes (, 1 oversized folder)
3.17 Linear Feet
350.9 Megabytes (<emph render="italic">289 jpeg files, 179 PDF files</emph>)
Language of Materials
English
Japanese
Abstract
This collection contains books, booklets, proposals, printed newspaper articles, ephemera, and digitzed scrapbooks related to George Nakano, former Assemblymember and Torrance City Council member. Subjects include the Jerome and Tule Lake incarceration camps, the Nakano family, and George Nakano's political career. This collection contains digitized materials.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged into four series. Series One also has two subseries.
Series:
- Series One:
- Japanese American incarceration and the Nakano family
- Series Two:
- Nakano family history
- Series Three:
- George Nakano's career
- Series Four:
- Other scrapbooks and materials
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
The access files are PDF and JPG files stored on the Public Use Drive. Access to the files is available on-site in the Gerth Archives and Special Collections reading room. Please request copies at the reference desk.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The George Nakano Family Papers has six separate accessions from November 2017 - January 2023. George Nakano also loaned several scrapbooks to the Gerth Archives and Special Collections between 2017-2019 to be digitized for the CSUJAD project.
Existence and Location of Originals
Donor retained some scrapbooks. All other material in the collection was donated.
Availability of Digitized Materials
Some of the collection has been digitized and is available at the CSU Japanese American Project site: George Nakano Family Papers.
Processing Information
The first four accessions (November 2017-August 2019) were processed by Jennifer Hill in 2019. The fifth accession along with the digitized scrapbooks were processed in May 2020. The sixth accession was processed in January 2023.
Processing Information for Digital Material
The Gerth Archives and Special Collections created digital reproductions from the original material for long-term preservation and access. These preservation files (14.69 Gb, 491 tif files) were scanned to and stored on the Gerth Archives and Special Collections Deparment Drive. For more information on the best practices and standards for the digitization process, please see: CSU Japanese American Digitization Project technical reference guide.
Creator
- Nakano , George (Person)
- Title
- Inventory of the George Nakano Family Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Jennifer Hill
- Date
- 2019-09-04
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- May 2020: Revised to include digital collection links and additional material.
- December 2020: Scope and Contents Note; Series One: Subseries One: During World War II: revised by Yoko Okunishi.
- January 2023: Series one Scope and Content Note, Processing Information, Immediate Source of Acquistion, and Collection Container list were revised to include additional material by Jennifer Hill.
Repository Details
Part of the California State University Dominguez Hills, Gerth Archives and Special Collections Repository
University Library South -5039 (Fifth Floor)
1000 E. Victoria St.
Carson CA 90747
310-243-3895
archives@csudh.edu