Common Ground: The Japanese American National Museum and the Culture of Collaborations

7. The National Partnership Program: A Model for Community Collaborations

THE NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM 89 7 7 The National Partnership Program Akemi Kikumura-Yano THE OREGON PROJECT: THE BEGINNINGS In 1992 the Japanese American National Museum (National Museum) piloted the first project of the National Partnership Program (NPP), collaborating with the Japanese American community in Portland and the Oregon Historical Society to develop a traveling exhibition, In This Great Land of Freedom: The Japanese Pioneers of Oregon. The exhibition focused on the history of the Japanese pioneers who migrated east across the Pacific and settled in Oregon. The exhibition premiered at the Oregon Historical Society from August 1993 to January 1994, then traveled to two states and six venues.1 A Traveling Lecture Series, sponsored by the Oregon Council for the Humanities, accompanied the exhibiA MODEL FOR COMMUNITY COLLABORATIONS A grant from the Rockefeller Foundation (RF 94012, Allocation No. 119; RF 95027, Allocation No. 120) was critical to the development of the National Partnership Program and of vital importance to the National Museum’s future programming and national outreach to communities. AKEMI KIKUMURA-YANO 90 7.1 Suma andTeruoTsuboi family,Ted (baby) and Akiko (sitting on wall). Multnomah Falls, Oregon, 1917. Courtesy, R. Rowe. THE NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM 91 tion at each site. Complementary interpretive elements included a catalog and brochures, public programs, and curriculum kits. The exhibition was hailed as a huge success at each venue, but the National Museum faced many challenges, especially in the early stages of the Oregon Project’s development. At the start of the Oregon Project the National Museum had just opened its doors to the public in the historic Nishi Hongwanji. In those early years the museum was establishing its identity not only as a museum but also as a national institution. Although some members of the Portland community could understand the importance of the museum’s role as a “national museum,” they felt that supporting their own state and local institutions was more relevant to their daily lives. One longtime Nisei (second-generation Japanese American) Oregonian asked, “Why should we donate our monies and collections to your museum? Why not [to] our own?” “I’ll tell you why,” answered a fellow Nisei. “Because our local museum is not interested in our stuff and our stories.” The National Museum made its position clear: as long as the collections were cared for, it didn’t matter where they were deposited. There was unanimous agreement on several points. It was important to document the stories of the first generation, the Issei pioneers, especially since the second generation, the Nisei, was aging. And it was particularly important to share this little-known history with Oregonians at large, especially the youth. With consensus reached on these common goals, the community set to work on the Oregon Project. The initial unifying force behind the project was George Azumano, a member of the National Museum’s Board of Trustees and a well-known and respected Portland community leader. With his leadership the National Museum was able to galvanize the support of longtime Oregonians and the local Japanese American community. Three committees were formed and met regularly to provide project updates: (1) a Steering Committee that provided project advice and guidance; (2) a Collections Committee that researched, identified, and documented collections in Oregon; and (3) a Campaign Committee that helped raise the additional funds needed to implement the project. The Oregon Historical Society was involved early in the project’s development and provided key programmatic support and important contextual resources for examining the history of Issei in Oregon. This partnership between the National Museum and the local community in Portland was the basis for a $100,000 grant awarded to the National Museum by the Meyer Memorial Trust to develop the traveling exhibition. Additional project funds were forthcoming from individuals, private foundations, and public funding sources, including the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust, the Rose Tucker Foundation, and the Oregon Council for the Humanities. Most revealing about the importance of the project to the Oregon community was the $66,000 raised by individuals in the community, mostly in the form of $35 to $1,000 donations. AKEMI KIKUMURA-YANO 92 OREGON-BASED PROJECT TEAM In keeping with the philosophy of the NPP, all key project personnel were selected from within the Oregon community. The first person to be hired, and perhaps the most important in terms of project implementation, was the local project coordinator, George Katagiri. Although Katagiri...