Japanese “Picture Brides” Arriving in San Francisco, c. 1915.
San Francisco, California: c. 1915. Single photograph measuring 6 ¼ x 9 ¼ inches. Brown Brothers stamps with manuscript caption verso, with other manuscript markings. Some marginal damage; excellent. Item #List2955
In the early 20th century, in order to appease increasing anti-Japanese sentiment in California without offending the growing world power, the US and Japan reached an informal agreement: the US would not restrict the activities of Japanese immigrants already in the country, and Japan would stop allowing laborers to emigrate to the US. However, the agreement also allowed Japanese men living in the US to bring over their families. At the time, most counties on the US’s west coast, where most Japanese immigrants lived, were home to significantly more Japanese men than women. This led to the practice of “picture brides”: arranged marriages between Japanese men in America and women back in Japan, who would only see each other via photographs prior to their marriage. The men would send along some information about their lives in the States—often exaggerated or untrue—which the women’s families would use to decide on the marriage; the couple would be married without the groom present, and then the bride would travel to the US, where they would meet for the first time.[1] Offered here is a photograph of a group of “picture brides” arriving in San Francisco around 1915. There are also several men, perhaps other family members with the group.
[1] Kelli Y. Nakamura, “Picture brides,” Densho Encyclopedia, last modified May 27, 2014, https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Picture%20brides.
Price: $600.00