[BCMA] Announcing Behind the Lens: The Okamura and Banno Families digitization project

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv]

Greetings, everyone.

The Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre is proud to announce the
completion of our 2023-2024 digitization project *Behind the Lens: The
Okamura and Banno Families*. Over the last year, we digitized more than
1500 items from the Banno Family Collection with significant materials
spanning four generations of the Banno and Okamura families, from the late
1800s through to 2021. These photographs, paintings, and textual records
are now available for viewing on our database at nikkeimuseum.org.



The project was made possible through the generous funding of the British
Columbia History Digitization Program and the Government of Canada Museum
Assistance Program Digital Access to Heritage.



Ce projet a été rendu possible en partie grâce au gouvernement du Canada



The project team is Sam Frederick, Bailey Irene Midori Hoy, and Lisa Uyeda.


*Background:*
*Behind the Lens: The Okamura and Banno Families* digitization project
contains valuable materials from the Banno Familly Collection that document
4 generations of the Banno and Okamura families in Japan and Canada. The
collection includes records relating to several members of the family,
covering their careers in photography, dentistry, and law; their forcible
internment in the Kaslo and Tashme internment camps; and involvement in the
Japanese Canadian community across British Columbia and the country. The
collection also contains many records relating to the Inouye family: Myea
Inouye (nee Okamura), Mata Banno’s sister, and her husband Walter and
daughter Mayko.

Paul Louis Tsunenojo Okamura, one of the earliest Japanese Canadian
artists, was a photographer who operated several photography studios in New
Westminster and Vancouver from the late 1890s to 1931. Several of his
studio and informal photographs are included in the collection, including a
family album capturing his three daughters, Cana, Myea, and Mata, from
infants into adulthood.

Mata Banno (nee Okamura) was the youngest daughter of Paul Louis and Misao
Okamura and the wife of Dr. Edward Chutaro Banno (married May 1942). Mata
worked as a dental assistant for Dr. Eiju Miyake. During the Second World
War, she was forcibly interned in Kaslo, BC with her husband and later her
children Robert and Victor who were born in Tashme and Kaslo, respectively.
Lesser known was Mata’s own skill as an artist and many sumie paintings
created by her are also included in the collection.

Dr. Edward Chutaro Banno was the husband of Mata Banno and son-in-law to
Paul Louis and Misao Okamura. Dr. Banno was a dentist and activist,
involved in the 1936 Japanese Canadian Citizens’ League delegation to
Ottawa for the federal franchise. Included in the collection are records of
Dr. Banno’s education; photographs and textual records related to the 1936
delegation; and several articles written by Dr. Banno for the New Canadian
and the Greater Vancouver Japanese Canadian Citizens’ Association Bulletin
on the unjust and racist policies targeting Japanese Canadians.

Robert Tadashi Banno was the eldest son of Dr. Edward Chutaro and Mata
Banno and the first child to be born in the Tashme internment camp in 1943.
Robert was actively involved in establishing Nikkei Place, serving as the
Founding President of both the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre and
the Nikkei Place Foundation. He worked as a lawyer with expertise in
Japan-Canada business and trade and Indigenous law. Robert’s records
consist of his educational diplomas and certificates, photographs of his
travels and family, and records related to his involvement with Nikkei
Place.

For more details visit:
https://centre.nikkeiplace.org/2024/04/29/behind-the-lens/
<https://centre.nikkeiplace.org/2024/04/29/behind-the-lens/>
https://nikkeimuseum.org/www/collections_detail.php?col_id=F1469

Take care,

Lisa
-- 
Lisa Uyeda
Collections Manager
Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre | 日系文化センター・博物館
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