Beschreibung:

Title: 1920s-40s photo album of California Japanese-American family Author: Place: Publisher: Date: 1920s-40s Description: Vintage photo album, 7x12 inches, with approximately 70 photos on 40 album pages (most pasted in or in hinged mounts, with 8 now laid in loose) of Japanese Americans, reportedly in Fremont or Alameda, California, possibly related to a family named Matsumoto, undated, but ca. 1920-40. Except for one photo with embossed photographer’s name “Y.Sasaki, Oakland”, two photos with Japanese and English marginal notes, and one page of very faded Japanese script, there is no identification of the subjects. Most pictures are elegant family portraits of men, women and children in western attire, some of the men wearing well-tailored suits. There are also several work scenes: an Asian man with a white man and woman in a Model-T era garage; a white family on a farm with several Asian workers, one holding a case of apples; four Japanese workers, men and women, in an agricultural field; and one of a congregation seated at a religious ceremony (possibly a funeral) in a Japanese temple. Separated from the rest of the pictures are photos of men and women in traditional Japanese dress, possibly taken in Japan, which may predate the rest of the album. The end date may be set by three photographic postcards of the Japan Pavilion on Treasure Island at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition. Spanning at least two decades, a fine pictorial record of one California family’s experience on the eve of the traumatic displacement of World War II. Lot Amendments Condition: Light wear to album; some photos a touch faded; very good. Item number: 249812