The City of Richmond Archives has received a photographic donation depicting the lives of Richmond residents of Japanese descent that will benefit researchers “for generations.”
Thirteen photo albums with about 2,000 photos from the early 20th century to the 1970s were donated to the archives by the Harada family and their contents are being meticulously recorded by Anouska Kirby, an intern working this winter at the city archives.
“Researchers for generations to come will benefit from this important donation,” said Dovelle Buie, archivist at the City of Richmond.
The patriarch of the family, Eikichi Harada, immigrated from Japan in 1908 and moved to Steveston to work in the fishing industry.
The photos depict his early years, his internment during the Second World War, his eventual return to Steveston and his family growing up in Richmond.
Jeanne Ryan, the granddaughter of Eikichi Harada, donated the albums, which had been stored at her father’s home for decades.
A few years before donating them, however, she spent hours with her father trying to figure out who the people in the photos were.
Despite his elderly years, Ryan said he remembered many of the people and was able to provide a plethora of information about the history of Japanese Canadians living in Steveston.
“The Archives is so grateful that Jeanne and her family not only donated the photographs but they are also volunteering to help us describe the images,” Buie said.
“Documenting multiple generations of the Harada extended family, their friends and workmates, this photographic record pays tribute to an entire community’s strength and resilience.”
Buie noted there is nothing comparable in the city’s archives from the Japanese Canadian community in Richmond, and the donation is “unique” for its size.
Kirby has been going through the photos over the past few months.
She has been hired as an intern to work at the Richmond archives on a federal Young Canada Works Building Careers in Heritage grant and with funding from the Dody Wray Special Projects fund.
The latter was a donation bequeathed by Dody Wray to the archives. Wray’s daughter Jackie Brown received a Heritage Award this year for the donation.
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