Southern California Gardeners' Federation Records
Content Description
The collection consists of mainly materials created and published by the Southern California Gardeners' Federation (SCGF) and their member chapters. Included are fliers, instructions, a guidebook, and annual installation programs circulated among the SCGF members, newsletters and books published by the organization, scrapbooks compiled by the SCGF member chapters, and other collected materials. Their newsletter, “Gadena no tomo = The gardener's monthly” include issues from April 1940 until December 1941 when incarceration interrupted, and from January 1957 when the organization was reestablished after the war, through December 2003. There are also photographs and scrapbooks depicting their activities: Photographs include SCGF headquarter building groundbreaking ceremony, conventions, anniversary events, annual installation programs, commercial booth exhibits, Co-op sale, Japanese-style gardens which received prizes numerous times, social clubs and activities, and volunteer activities. Scrapbooks were complied by SCGF member chapters, such as the Los Angeles Southwest Gardeners Association, Inc. and Women's Auxiliary of Los Angeles Southwest Gardeners Association, Inc., including photographs, newsletters, and clippings.
Dates
- 1940-2014
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 the Gerth Archives and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Gerth Archives and 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.
Southern California Gardeners’ Federation
Southern California Gardeners’ Federation (SCGF) was established in 1955 in alliance with 15 local gardeners’ associations in the Southern California region. SCGF is a horticulture professional association in the Japanese American community to support the member gardeners, providing with gardening knowledge and skills, training successors to promote the gardening profession, administrating the members’ benefits to improve the standards of living and economic circumstances of individuals and families, as well as advocating and acting for/against regulations for the community. Its precursor was originally formed in 1938 under the leadership of Shoji Nagumo, who was a prominent leader in the community and a chair of the Hollywood Gardeners’ Association, however, due to the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, it was virtually disbanded. In 1955, the present SCGF was established and has been operated at 333 South San Pedro St, Los Angeles, California, and 19 chapter members in Southern California are affiliated as of 2023.
History of Japanese American gardeners in Southern California
Beginning of the gardening profession in the community
Development of Japanese-style gardens in the United States during the prewar era
During World War II and postwar
Postwar immigration from Japan
Emergence of Japanese gardeners’ associations
Shoji Nagumo, 1890-1976
Zenichiro Uchida, 1921-2006
Extent
27 boxes
Language of Materials
Japanese
English
Abstract
This collection comprises of circulars, guidebook, members’ newsletters, anniversary publications, books, photographs and scrapbooks which were created by the organization and document their activities from the prewar time through the present. The collection includes issues of their newsletter, “Gadena no tomo = The gardener's monthly” from April 1940 until December 1941 when incarceration interrupted, and “Gadena no tomo = Turf and garden” from January 1957, that was the first issue when the organization was reestablished after the war, through December 2003. The most of the items in the collection have been digitized and available at CSU Japanese American Digitization Project site.
Arrangement
Arranged in four series:
- Circulars, instructions, and annual dinner programs
- Newsletters and books
- Photographs and scrapbooks
- Clippings and others
Immediate Source of Acquisition
With introduction and coordination by Ryoko Onishi, a journalist of the Rafu Shimpo, the Director and the Digital Archivist of the Gerth Archives and Special Collections were invited to the Southern California Gardena’s Federation and discussed about the CSU Japanese Digitization Project in January 2018. The Federation agreed to join the Project, digitizing their collection and making it available online. Initially, they agreed to donate digital reproductions only and held the physical materials in their office. In 2019, the physical materials were formally donated to the Archives, and in July 2020, the newsletters from 1990 through 2003 were transferred to the Archives.
In 2020, additional materials were donated by Mr. Shinkichi Koyama, who is a former president of the Bay City Gardender's Asssocation (BCGA). BCGA is one of the SCGF's member associations and the collection contains their newsletters and photographs documenting the association's activities.
Availability of Digital Reproductions
Most of the items in this collection have been digitized and digital reproduction access derivatives (access files) are available at the CSU Japanese American Digitization Project site:
Translation
English translation, synopses, and brief descriptions for Japanese language materials are available at CSU Japanese American Digitization Project site.
Processing Information
The collection was processed and English translation was provided by Yoko Okunishi.
Digital Reproduction
The Gerth Archives and Special Collections created digitized materials from original items for long-term preservation and electronic access, adhering to best practice and standards to ensure the authenticity, integrity, and security of material. Most of the collection has been digitized and are available online. Some of the access files (access derivatives) have been redacted to protect personal identifiable information and others have been compressed for greater efficiency online. For more information on digitization production, please see CSU Japanese American Digitization Project technical reference guide.
The set of digital reproduction preservation files is stored on the Gerth Archives and Special Collections' department drive for preservation purpose and duplicate image requests in TIFF.
The set of access files (access derivatives) was created for the digital management system and is stored on the Gerth Archives and Special Collections' department external drive for staff use.
- Title
- Inventory of the Records of the Southern California Gardeners Federation
- Status
- In Progress
- Author
- Yoko Okunishi
- Date
- 2020
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- The collection is in Japanese and English.
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