This collection chiefly consists of the professional papers of Japanese-American sociologist and professor Tamotsu Shibutani (1920-2004). In addition, there are photograph albums of his mother, Taka Shibutani (1892-1986), dating from the early 1900s to 1980s.

The bulk of the collection relates to Shibutani’s academic career at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), in the form of research and writing materials, course files, and professional correspondence. There are more than seven boxes of subject files on specific sociological topics, often with corresponding class lecture notes, articles, clippings, notes, and occasional correspondence. In addition, there are also files for specific courses that contain Shibutani’s lecture notes, exams, syllabi, and reading lists, and a complementary series of course outlines and records for courses taught at the University of Chicago (1948-1951), University of California, Berkeley (1951-1958), and UCSB (1962-1991). Publication files relate to Shibutani’s book and article projects and often include correspondence, research material, manuscript drafts, and royalty statement.

There are also various personal and professional correspondence files chiefly related to Shibutani’s professional life including letters about job opportunities, speaking invitations, and his position as a University of California faculty member.

The collection also contains photograph albums presumably kept by Taka Shibutani that appear to reflect much of her life including family photographs and a school yearbook from Japan (Box 13, Vols. 1-2), dating from the early 1900s; snapshots taken after she moved to California (from the 1920s to the early 1980s) depicting her family, family events, and various trips. There is also a scrapbook (Box 12, Vol. 4) and photograph album (Box 13, Vol. 5) related to her gardening, flower arranging, and flower show participation. While there are almost no items reflecting Tamotsu Shibutani’s experience during World War II, the albums of his mother do include a notebook kept while she was interred at the Granada Relocation Center in Wyoming with English language lessons (Box 13, Vol. 6). As part of this notebook, there are drafts of some letters written by Taka that mention life in the camp.