Accession 2023.05 - Masaji George Tokiwa accession

90cm of textual records (8 boxes)

Records were given to the Library by Lily Gibson without official documentation in 2014. She had inherited them from her sister, Helen Tokiwa who had lived with her parents her whole life. An attempt to arrange and describe the records had begun by an exchange student who had the necessary language skills to read the many letters, but it was never completed. The records were officially transferred to the East Asian Library in April 2023.

Donated April, 2023 by Lily Gibson.

The majority of the records are handwritten letters (written in kuzushiji) received by Tokiwa from Japan and friends across Canada. They are assumed to be from pre-WWII to after the war and his time in Toronto. Some photographs of the people of Ocean Falls, B.C. are also included. Due to the language skills needed to read these letters, no further or detailed descriptions have been created.

No further accruals are expected.

Any original order there may have been has been lost. It is unknown the classification and arrangement the previous person working on the records used. Any notations, and notes made by this person have been left in with the records. Their arrangement and description was never completed. To make these records available, the archivist has placed the records in unmarked folders in no discernable order. Future arrangement and description will be needed to best make these records accessible.

• Japanese

• Japanese

Almost all the records are in handwritten Japanese. The Library is unable to provide help in translating or deciphering the records.

Researchers may access all 7 boxes at once, contrary to Reading Room policy. Please contact the Archivist for further information.

The creation of this finding aid was made possible with generous funding from the Frank H. Hori Charitable Foundation, as well as other grants and donations.

Created April 12, 2023 by E Carroll.

Conversation held with donor Lily Gibson, April 5, 2023.