Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- [1932]-1957 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
Total Reels: 48 Regular 8mm reels
Total Film Footage: [11675] ft
Total Run Time: 14:10:36
Total DVD's: 3
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Rev. Kosaburo Shimizu was born in 1893 in the village of Tsuchida, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. He and his family immigrated to British Columbia in 1907. Shimizu attended public school, then studied at the University of British Columbia. He obtained an MA in English Literature from Harvard University in 1924, and became an ordained minister of the United Church in 1926. His first appointment as pastor was with the Vancouver Japanese United Church on Powell Street in 1926.
Shimizu always worked towards building Japanese Christian fellowship, and strengthening ties between the Nisei and Issei (Second and First Generation) Japanese Canadians, and the Anglo-Saxon Canadian and Japanese Canadians. He worked tirelessly to build positive relations between these groups, even during rising tensions and racist ideologies.
During the Second World War, Shimizu worked for the Co-operative Committee on Japanese Canadians (CCJC), the United Church Board of Home Missions, and the British Columbia Securities Commission to visit Ontario and Quebec. As before, Shimizu worked to foster better relations between the different communities, including the Japanese Canadians expelled by the Canadian government and Anglo-Saxon Canadians with racist’s ideologies against Japanese Canadians. Shimizu traveled across the country for CCJC, stopping in major cities to report on potential work, housing arrangements, and recreational activities Japanese Canadian may find if they chose to relocate to Eastern Canada. While traveling, he tried to speak and listen to every Japanese Canadian he met, listening to their concerns and offering counseling.
After the war, Shimizu and his family moved to Toronto where he formed the Toronto Japanese Nisei Congregation in 1954. He was married twice, his second wife was Hide Hyoto, CM, an educator and activist. He was conferred by the United Church a Doctorate of Divinity in 1955. Shimizu passed away in Winnipeg in 1962.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Donated to the archive by Rev. Kosaburo Shimizu's son Ted Shimizu.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Shimizu’s home movies document multiple stages of his life, and the lives of Japanese Canadians during and around WWII. Titles with dates before WWII document Shimizu’s life and events at the Church in Vancouver. They also capture daily life and vacations as Shimizu traveled south through the west coast of the United States, reaching Mexico. During the war, his films are some of the few moving image documents of the Japanese Canadian internment camps. He also filmed some of his talks and meetings he had with other Japanese Canadians when he traveled east for the CCJC. After the war, his films capture typical family life after relocating in Toronto.
The collection also includes six reels of cartoons and shorts for consumer viewing.
Titles:
Vancouver 1936-1937 (1936-1937, 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Vancouver, Vancouver Island, Victoria (1937, 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Royal Visit Vancouver (1939, 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Family and Friends in Vancouver (Pre-War Days) ([1937 - 1940], 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Salem YPCC (n.d., 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Portland, San Francisco Meeting, Mexico (n.d., 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Kaslo, B.C. (n.d., 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Slocan and Sandon, B.C. (n.d., 1 reel B&W 8mm)
New Denver, B.C. (1944, 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Toronto, Fort William, Regina, Kaslo ([1942], 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Story of Japanese Resettlement from B.C. to Ontario (1942-1950, 2 reels colour 8mm)
Japanese Camp (1942 – 1943, 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Montreal, QC (1943 – 1944, 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Toronto and [Suburbs] ([1950], 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Niagara, Beamsville, Toronto, ON (1944, 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Simcoe Lake, Hamilton, Toronto, ON (1946, 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Centre Island, Waterloo, Grimsby, ON (1946 – 1947, 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Galt, Guelph, Chatham, London, Hamilton, ON ([1947], 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Upper Canada Village (1960, 1 reel colour 8mm)
Toronto, ON (1955, 1 reel colour 8mm)
Yano Wedding, and Toronto, ON ([1958], 1 reel colour 8mm)
Wedding Pictures ([1956], 1 reel colour 8mm)
Vancouver, BC ([1957], 1 reel B&W 8mm)
California Trip ([1946], 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Princeton, Philadelphia, New York (1947 -1952, 1 reel colour 8mm)
Leslie School, Cedar Spring ([1946], 1 reel colour 8mm)
Canada Tour (1952, 2 reels colour 8mm)
Canada Tour (1957, 1 reel colour 8mm)
Second WCC Assembly, Evanston (1954, 1 reel colour 8mm)
News Parade of 1945 (1945, 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Sports Parade (1942, 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Seeing NY, Knockdown and Drag Out, Bargain Day, Hyps the Hippo (1940, 1 reel tinted 8mm)
The Swim, A Hunting Party, Choose Your Weapons (n.d., 1 reel tinted 8mm)
Mickey in Hurdles and Hazards (n.d., 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Fire Fighter ([1937], 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Haunted House, Easy Street (n.d., 1 reel tinted 8mm)
Chimps Adventures ([1932], 1 reel tinted 8mm)
Holy Land (1940, 1 reel B&W 8mm)
Japan 1937 (1937, 2 reels, B&W and Colour 8mm)
ASAI Tour 1937 (1937, 1 reel B&W 8mm)
1955 World Tour (1955, 5 reels colour 8mm)
The Ghost Towns (1942-1945, 2 DVD-R discs)
Prewar Vancouver: The Japanese United Church, Its Members & Friends (1936-1940, 1 DVD-R disc)
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Preservation concerns may limit access, consult archivist.
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
- Japanese
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Contact archivist for further finding aid information.
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Publication note
NHK World, part of Japan’s national broadcaster NHK, used archival material from this collection for their documentary Hope in the Dark (2019) about the Japanese-Canadian Internment Camps. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ondemand/video/3016050/
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Shimizu, Hide (Subject)
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Dates of creation revision deletion
Created September 3, 2019 by Elizabeth Carroll.
Language(s)
- English