Kay Keiichi Sugahara (Papers) Collection
Description: Kay Sugahara, a millionaire by the age of 29, was sometimes referred to as the “Nisei Onassis” by other second generation Japanese Americans. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was held for a time in horse stables at the Santa Anita Racetrack and then sent to Granada (Camp Amache) in Colorado, yet managed to free himself through his recruitment into the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner to the Central Intelligence Agency. After working for the OSS during the war, Sugahara fought to improve relations between the U.S. and Japan, build Asian American communities on a local and national scale, and as Fairfield-Maxwell Ltd. Chairman, he became a millionaire once again by making tankers in Japan for U.S. oil companies. The collection contains Sugahara’s business, trip, and personal files. [Read More]
Extent: 86.6 Linear Feet (172 boxes, 23 flat boxes, 8 oversize flat boxes, and 4 shoe boxes)
Identifier/Call Number (OAC): LSC.2354
UCLA Catalog Record ID: 8542755
Access: Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library (access information)
(Collection Stored Off-Site: Open for research. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance)
Creator: Sugahara, Kay, 1909-1988
Date (inclusive): 1915-2014
Scope and Contents: This collection spans 1915 to 2014 and contains Kay Sugahara’s business, trip, and personal files. The business files document his activities at Fairfield-Maxwell Ltd. (FML), the Dooman Group, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the American Council on Japan, the American Mercantile Company (AMC), the US-Asia Institute (USIA), and associated activities. The trip files document his travels related to FML, USIA, conferences, speeches, ceremonies, christenings, White House inaugurations, and vacation activities. The personal files include scrapbooks, photo albums, correspondence, diaries, appointment books, documentation of Granada, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reports, biographical manuscripts, awards, audio, audiovisual, and press materials.
Arrangement: The collection is arranged in the following series:
Series 1: Business files, 1954-2007
Series 2: Trip files, 1972-1988
Series 3: Personal files, 1915-2014
Restrictions: Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
