Yatsuhashi Harumichi Family Papers

The Yatsuhashi Harumichi Family Papers (1906-1976) document the professional and personal lives of a Japanese-American family in Boston during the twentieth century. The patriarch, Yatsuhashi Harumichi (1886-1982), was an influential Asian art dealer and the papers also document the professional experiences of Asian art dealers in the United States during the early and mid 20th century. Mr. Yatsuhashi worked at the antiquities firm of Yamanaka & Company before starting his own Asian antiquities shop in 1945. Included in the papers, portions in Japanese, are correspondence; catalogues relating to the Alien Property Custodian's 1944 liquidation of Yamanaka & Company's New York branch's holdings; photographs depicting art objects and shop interiors, the Yatsuhashi family; Yamanaka & Company, and extended family, friends, and colleagues; and items belonging to Mr. Yatsuhashi's wife, Shigeki, and some of their children.

Asian art dealer and merchant Yatsuhashi Harumichi (1886- 1982) was born in Tano, Japan, on December 15, 1886. Upon completion of his studies in Osaka, Mr. Yatsuhashi secured employment in the Osaka office of the prestigious Asian antiquities firm, Yamanaka & Company. (For more information about Yamanaka & Company, please see: Lawton, T. (1995). Yamanaka Sadajiro: Advocate for Asian art. Orientations, 26 (1), 80-93.) In 1907 he joined Yamanka & Company's branch office in Boston, Massachusetts, as its general manager and treasurer of the company's Asian division. Located at 424 Boylston Street, the store was a center for Chinese art, as well as for Japanese assorted goods.

In 1913 Yatsuhashi married Shigeki. They produced two sons (Michio and Masao) and two daughters (Sumiko and Kukiye). (Harumichi Yatsuhashi, Oriental art authority and Brookline resident. (1982 December 3). The Boston Globe, obituaries.)

Following the United States' entrance into World War II, the Alien Property Custodian seized the Yamanaka shops in New York, Boston, and Chicago. The holdings were sold at auction in May and June, 1944. In 1945, Yatsuhashi Harumichi and his son Michio opened their own Asian art dealership at 420 Boylston Street in Boston.

Yatsuhashi Harumichi fostered exchange between his native and adopted homeland. He was a member and officer (president in 1931) of the Japan Society of Boston since 1921, an avid supporter of the Boston Marathon, and a founder of the Boston-Kyoto Sister City Foundation. (Boston Globe, 1982 December 4. )

Michio Yatsuhashi, who helped his father open the Yatsuhashi antique shop, died prematurely as a result of cancer in 1981. One year later, Mr. Yatsuhashi died in Boston at the age of 96. He was survived by his daughters, Sumiko and Kikuye and one son, Masao.

1886 December 15 -- Yatsuhashi Harumichi born in Japan

1905 -- Yatsuhashi Harumichi graduates college in Osaka, Japan

1905 -- Yatsuhashi Harumichi joins the antiquities firm of Yamanaka & Co.

1907 -- Yatsuhashi Harumichi joins the Boston branch of Yamanaka & Co.

1913 -- Yatsuhashi Harumichi and Shigeki marry

[ca. 1918 - 1919] -- Masao Yatsuhashi (son) born

1944 -- Yamanaka & Company New York, Boston, and Chicago shops are seized by the Alien Property Custodian and its holdings are sold at auction

1945 -- Yatsuhashi Harumichi and son Michio open an Asian antiquities shop in Boston

1961 -- Yatsuhashi Shigeki dies

1981 -- Michio Yatsuhashi dies

1982 December 1 -- Yatsuhashi Harumichi dies at Massachusetts General Hospital at the age of 96

Yatsuhashi Harumichi Family

Harvard University

Yamanaka & Company

Yatsuhashi family

Yamanaka, Sadajiro

Yatsuhashi, Harumichi, 1886-1982

Boston (Mass.)

New York (N.Y.)

Art dealers

Art dealers -- Japan

Art dealers -- Massachusetts -- Boston

Alien property -- New York (State) -- New York

Foreign property

Japanese American families -- Photographs

Japanese American families

The Yatsuhashi Harumichi Family Papers were donated to the Archives by James Arthur Marinaccio in 1994. 2022 addition was purchased by the Archives.

Yatsuhashi Harumichi Family Papers

Gift of James Arthur Marinaccio, 1994

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Catalogs

Correspondence

Printed material

Address books

Announcements

Sheet music

Diaries

Visiting cards

Photographs

Photograph albums

Books

Yatsuhashi Harumichi Family Papers. FSA.A.1994.02 National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of James Arthur Marinaccio, 1994.

The collection has been organized into four series.

Series 1: Yatsuhashi Harumichi papers, 1912-1965, undated

— Subseries 1.1: Biographical information, undated

— Subseries 1.2: Correspondence, 1940-1980

— Subseries 1.3: Diary, 1912

— Subseries 1.4: Address book, undated

— Subseries 1.5: Printed materials, 1919-1965, undated

Series 2: Business Correspondence, Boston Art and Book Shop, 1960s

Series 3: Other family members, 1937, 1966, undated

— Subseries 3.1: Yatsuhashi Shigeki

— Subseries 3.2: Yatsuhashi S.

— Subseries 3.3: Yatsuhashi Masao

— Subseries 3.4: Yatsuhashi Sumiko

Series 4: Photographs, 1907-1976, undated

— Subseries 4.1:Still prints and portraits

— Subseries 4.2: Photo albums

The collection was processed by Colleen Hennessey and volunteer Suzuki Kiyoko in 1997. Additional arrangement and description by Linda Machado in 2002 and Lisa Fthenakis in 2022.

No restrictions on use.

Catalogs -- 1910-1960

Correspondence

Printed material

Address books

Announcements

Sheet music

Diaries

Visiting cards

Photographs

Photograph albums

Books

Collection is open for research.