John Adrian Rademaker Papers
Scope and Content Note
The John Adrian Rademaker Papers have been organized into three series: Correspondence, These Are Americans, and Other Papers. The “Correspondence” series, dating from 1942-1952, relates to his book These Are Americans, which was published in 1951 to document the story of people of Japanese ancestry in Hawaii during World War II. The majority of the correspondence concerns the development, writing, and publication of These Are Americans. This series also contains correspondence dating from 1942-1945 regarding the wartime experience of people of Japanese ancestry in Hawaii.
The series “These Are Americans” includes photographs, drafts, background information, a prospectus, and other materials compiled by Rademaker while completing his book. The bulk of this series is comprised of photographs Rademaker collected in the course of preparing These Are Americans. The photographs illustrate the contributions Hawaii’s people of Japanese ancestry made to the war effort, both on the home front and in the military. The photographs are grouped into regular-sized photos and oversized photos, and each grouping has been arranged according to chapters in the book. Included are photographs depicting the military service in the Varsity Victory Volunteers, the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and the Military Intelligence Service, as well as life on the home front in Hawaii, including labor, agriculture and community service.
The “Other Papers” series contains notes, research materials, writings, printed materials, maps, clippings, and other materials related to Rademaker’s research and his work teaching sociology. Included are note and research materials concerning people of Japanese ancestry and Hawaii in World War II, as well as a copy of the MISLS Album that documents the history of the Military Intelligence Service Language School. Also included is a folder of materials relating to Rademaker’s tenure at the University of Hawaii, including a booklet of notes his students compiled when he left Hawaii for Willamette University in 1947.
The current arrangement of the material reflects the arrangement imposed on them by Library staff in the 1980s. The material is largely in good condition. Old paper clips, staples, and rubber bands were removed and replaced with archival quality paper clips. Newspaper clippings were highly acidic; many were photocopied for retention and the originals discarded.
Related collections at the University of Hawaii Archives & Manuscripts Department include the Ted Tsukiyama Papers (AJA 002). Other collections in the Japanese American Veterans Collection also contain relevant materials. Correspondence about leaving UH can be found in the "Correspondence 1947-1948" file (Box 13, Folder 7) of the Andrew Lind Papers in the RASRL Collection. Rademaker’s book, "These Are Americans", is available for use in the University of Hawaii Library’s Special Collections.
The Special Collections at the UCLA Library also has a collection of John A. Rademaker Papers that includes statistical information collected by Rademaker for his doctoral dissertation.
Dates
- Creation: 1940 - 1953
Creator
- Rademaker, John Adrian, 1905- (Teacher, Person)
Restrictions
None
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, their descendants, or the repository if copyright has been signed over, as stipulated by United States copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user to determine any copyright restrictions, obtain written permission, and pay any fees necessary for the reproduction or proposed use of the materials.
Literary Rights Notice
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the University of Hawaii Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must be obtained by the user.
Biographical Sketch
John Adrian Rademaker (1905-1985) was born in Tacoma, Washington, on 26 August 1905. He graduated from the College of Puget Sound in Tacoma with a B.A. in 1930, and then earned his M.A. from the University of Washington in 1935. Rademaker received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Washington in 1939; his doctoral dissertation was titled: “The Ecological Position of the Japanese American Farmers in the State of Washington.”
John Adrian Rademaker worked as a research assistant for the University of Washington and the Washington State Emergency Relief Administration from 1933-1934. From 1934-1937 he taught sociology at the University of Washington. He then taught sociology at the University of Oregon in Eugene in 1939 and at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, from 1939-1943. Rademaker married Elizabeth Dewey Spencer in 1939, and the couple had two children.
During 1943-1944, John Adrian Rademaker worked as a community analyst for the War Relocation Authority at the Grenada Relocation Center in Amache, Colorado. He then moved to Honolulu and worked as an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Hawaii from 1944-1947. In 1947, Rademaker moved to Salem, Oregon, where he served as a Professor of Sociology and Chairman of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Willamette University until 1970, when he became an Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Anthropology.
While John Adrian Rademaker was in Hawaii during World War II, he began to explore the possibility of publishing a pictorial work that would document the contributions that people of Japanese ancestry living in Hawaii made to the war effort in the United States. Rademaker spent several years conducting research and collecting materials for his book, including numerous photographs, most by the U.S. Army Signal Corps, the Office of War Information, Honolulu newspapers, and private photographers. The resulting book, These Are Americans: The Japanese Americans in Hawaii During World War II, was published by Pacific Books of Palo Alto, California, in 1951.
In the preface of These Are Americans, Rademaker explains the book’s purpose—to provide the American public with an accurate account of what Hawaii’s residents of Japanese ancestry did to demonstrate their loyalty to America during the war. The book tells the story of Japanese Americans’ military participation, including the Hawaii Territorial Guard, the Varsity Victory Volunteers, the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and the Military Intelligence Service. The book also outlines the contributions on the home front in Hawaii, including areas such as labor, education, morale and community service.
Extent
6.0 Linear Feet
Language
English
Abstract
John Adrian Rademaker (1905-1985), a Professor of Sociology, published the pictorial book These Are Americans: The Japanese Americans in Hawaii During World War II in 1951 to document the contributions that people of Japanese ancestry living in Hawaii made to the war effort of the United States. The book tells the story of Japanese Americans’ military participation, including the Hawaii Territorial Guard, the Varsity Victory Volunteers, the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and the Military Intelligence Service. The book also outlines the contributions on the home front in Hawaii, including area such as labor, education, morale, and community service.
Rademaker worked as a community analyst for the War Relocation Authority at the Grenada Relocation Center in Amache, Colorado, from 1943-1944. He then worked as an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Hawaii from 1944-1947, before moving to Salem, Oregon, where he served as a Professor of Sociology and Chairman of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Willamette University until 1970.
The collection consists primarily of materials concerning the development, writing, and publication of These Are Americans. The materials are arranged into three series: Correspondence, These Are Americans, and Other Papers. The “Correspondence” series, dating from 1942-1952, documents the creation and publication of These Are Americans. The series also contains correspondence dating from 1942-1945 regarding the wartime experience of people of Japanese ancestry in Hawaii. The series “These Are Americans” includes photographs, drafts, background information, a prospectus, and other materials compiled by Rademaker while completing his book. The bulk of this series is comprised of photographs that illustrate the contributions Hawaii’s people of Japanese ancestry made to the war effort, both on the home front and in the military. The “Other Papers” series contains notes, research materials, writings, printed materials, maps, clippings, and other materials related to Rademaker’s research and his work teaching sociology.
Provenance
Provenance for the entire collection is unclear. John Adrian Rademaker donated some of the photographs, publications, and other materials in the 1980s. Other photographs were purchased in 1986.
- Title
- John Adrian Rademaker Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Laura Capell
- Date
- April 2006
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- English
- Sponsor
- Dainan Skeem
Repository Details
Part of the University of Hawaii at Manoa Libraries Repository