[Vernacular Photograph Album Featuring the Life of a Young Japanese-American Woman in Postwar California] by [Japanese Americana]. [California] - 1952

[Sacramento, Ca. and other locations, 1952. Very good plus.. [48] leaves, illustrated with 162 photographs, ranging from thumbnail portraits to about 3.5 x 3 inches, in mounting corners. 12mo. Contemporary red patterned cloth, with "SNAPS" stamped in silver on front cover and spine. Minor wear and dust-soiling to covers. Internally clean. A unique assemblage of vernacular photographs documenting the midcentury life, family, friends, and classmates of a young Japanese-American woman identified only as "Annie." Many of the images are portraits, with a great deal of them inscribed to Annie in the image area, including other Japanese-American men and women, as well as some white women. A series of about twenty portraits of Annie's friends and classmates also include printed name cards mounted with the portraits; searches of some of the names indicate the subjects in the present album most likely emanate from in and around Sacramento, California, though there is some indication here that Annie may have had a Chicago connection. In addition to the portraits, the album includes images of Annie and others posed with family (with two images inscribed to Annie from her brother Jimmie), with cars sporting California license plates, enjoying time at the beach (likely Santa Monica), at school and camp, and more. A short series of pictures features Annie and a friend in traditional Japanese dress at some sort of celebration. Two of the images feature young Japanese-American men in military uniforms. The preponderance of the photographs seem to date from the early-1950s, when Annie appears to be in high school, or perhaps college. Given her age, Annie and her numerous Japanese-American friends and family pictured here almost certainly experienced life inside barbed wire fences during the World War II internment period. The present album is a great candidate for further study of the experiences of young Japanese-Americans continuing their lives following that harrowing time.