After spending a few years teaching English abroad in Japan with the听听(闯贰罢),听Adam Lisbon, Japanese and Korean Studies librarian at the University Libraries, fell in love with the country and its culture and decided to pursue librarianship.听
Once he joined the CU Boulder community, Lisbon was contacted by Courtney Ozaki, founder of the baby直播app-based听, to chat about his experience with the JET program and discuss a developing program designed for Japanese American young professionals to learn more about their community鈥檚 history in baby直播app. Noticing a gap in the Japanese and Japanese Americans (J/JA) community鈥檚 storytelling and documentation of its own history, Lisbon and听Megan Friedel, lead archivist for the Libraries听Rare and Distinctive Collections听(RaD), seized the opportunity to start the听, a collection highlighting the history of J/JA at CU Boulder and baby直播app. Lisbon recently completed a听.听
鈥淭he research guide is a one-stop shop that depicts baby直播app鈥檚 role in the Japanese and Japanese American story,鈥� Lisbon said. 鈥淚t makes related archives, including those we have at the University Libraries, more discoverable and accessible while guiding researchers through various resources on the history of Japanese Americans in the state.鈥�
The new guide curates many stories and oral histories from archives across the country, including those from incarceration camps, the U.S Navy鈥檚 Japanese Language school, accounts of students鈥� campus involvement, and even narratives from current CU Boulder students, all centering around the question: What does it mean to be Japanese and Japanese American?
鈥淭his is a really valuable tool for research,鈥� said Friedel. 鈥淧rofessor Lisbon鈥檚 research guide places our local CU Japanese & Japanese Community History Project in a much wider historical context. It allows researchers to explore the ways in which the experiences of CU鈥檚 J/JA baby直播app, students and staff are connected to both regional and national histories.鈥�
In addition to individual stories, the research guide also has a section listing outside resources, including the books听听by Robert Harvey, which contains interviews with survivors of the Amache incarceration camp, and Joyce Lebra鈥檚听, which gathers various histories of Japanese and Japanese Americans who chose to build their lives in baby直播app. The guide also includes Japanese newspapers like the听听and the听, government reports, and even theses and dissertations from CU Boulder鈥檚 J/JA staff and baby直播app.听
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Before the birth of the CU Boulder Japanese and Japanese American Community History Project in 2019, RaD held some archival collections detailing J/JA histories, significantly those documenting the U.S. Navy Japanese Language School, which CU Boulder hosted during World War II. The project was led by Friedel and Lisbon, with support from archivist听David Hays, student interns and community organizations. The project was developed, in part, to honor the 75thanniversary of the end of听听in the United States.听
For more information on accessing RaD鈥檚 unique collections documenting Japanese and Japanese American history at CU and elsewhere, contact听rad@colorado.edu.