The Legacy Center

The JASC Legacy Center is a community-based archive and library that collects, preserves, and makes historical resources from the Japanese American community in the metropolitan Chicago area available for research and reference purposes. It houses the JASC archives and serves as a community repository for records and information resources about Japanese Americans and Asian Americans. The Legacy Center seeks to preserve and promote community heritage and common understanding of the Japanese American experience as an integral part of American history. We provide reference services for our collections, can help you make connections with community members, will lend selected materials, and can refer you to other repositories. Our collections are available for use, by appointment, free of charge. All people are welcome!

JASC Legacy Center
4427 North Clark Street
Chicago, Illinois 60640
773.275.0097 ext. 222
e-mail Legacy Center

The Legacy Center has been generously supported by the Chicago Japanese American Council, the Japanese American National Museum's Discover Nikkei Project (www.discovernikkei.org), McDonald's Corporation's Diversity Initiatives Program, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, Parkwood Community Church, the Tom T. Arai Bequest of the Japanese Mutual Aid Society, and the Woods Fund of Chicago.

Accessing the Collections
To view the collections, you will need to make an appointment in advance and to register upon arrival. Reference services are available on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm, and on Wednesdays from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. For an appointment, please email the Legacy Center or call 773.275.0097 ext. 222 in advance of your visit.

Before your arrival, please review our procedures.

Legacy Center Procedures
All researchers will be asked to follow these procedures:

1. All researchers must complete a Legacy Center registration form and show current photo identification.

2. Most Legacy Center material is stored in closed stacks and will be retrieved by a staff member every half hour. Please allow extra time.

3. To preserve Legacy Center material, food, drink, and smoking are not permitted in the research area.

4. Due to risk of inadvertent damage to the material, researchers will use pencil only and may not use pens. Tracing of Legacy Center material is not permitted.

5. All researchers must store their personal belongings including book bags and coats outside the research area with the exception of paper, pencil, notebook, and a laptop computer.

6. Upon exiting the research area, all items removed by researchers are subject to search to ensure that Legacy Center material is not inadvertently removed.

7. Reproduction of Legacy Center material may be permitted. For more information, see Reproduction Services.

8. Legacy Center material is for reference use only. Researchers may publish, exhibit, display, or reproduce Legacy Center material in whole or in part solely with written permission of the Legacy Center. Researchers assume sole responsibility for any infringement of literary rights, copyright, or other rights pertaining to the material.

9. Theft, destruction, or mutilation of the Legacy Center's materials is strictly forbidden.

10. Researchers agree to give the Legacy Center a complimentary copy of any publication relying substantially on its collections.

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