Kenjilo Nanao papers, circa 1885-2017, bulk 1970-2000

Biographical materials include address books, biographical profiles, business cards, degrees and certifications, forms of international identification, travel documents, early academic writing on art, and interviews in both written typescript form and digital audio recording.

The materials in this series are in alphabetical order by folder title.

The bulk of this series has been digitized, except for blank pages of the address books.

Correspondence is mostly personal in nature, between friends, family, and other artists in both English and Japanese, with some correspondence with universities and museums regarding exhibitions interspersed throughout. Notable correspondents include John and Kati Casida, William Hyland, Fumiyo and Jun Kaneko, son Max Nanao, Tama Nanao, Nathan Oliveira, Leta and Mel Ramos, Kayoko Watanabe, Masaki Yanagihara, and others. There are numerous bound journals mostly containing letter drafts by Kenjilo Nanao. This series also includes letters addressed to Gail Chadell Nanao from various individuals.

A great deal of the correspondence in this series is written in Japanese, including numerous letter drafts written by Kenjilo Nanao to various people.

The bound jounals of letter drafts written by Kenjilo Nanao are at the beginning of series in chronological order, followed by alphabetical correspondence, correspondence with first names only, unidentified correspondence, then loose letter drafts written by Kenjilo Nanao in Japanese to various correspondents. The Gail Nanao correspondence is grouped together at the end in alphabetical order by correspondent.

The bulk of this series has been digitized, except for blank pages of the letter draft journals.

This series consists of bound journals of mixed content, mostly entries on daily activities, but also including thoughts on art, to-do lists, and artwork in various media including watercolors and charcoal. Later journals, often bound in leather, are titled and dedicated to specific travels and often documents those trips as well as long periods afterwards. Some entries are written in Japanese.

Journals are arranged roughly in chronological order.

The bulk of this series has been digitized, except for blank pages.

Professional files include an expense ledger, appointment books; teaching files from California State University at Hayward, notably various professional portfolios that Nanao produced for the purpose of tenure review; gallery records; studio documents, slides and artwork shipment ledgers, and lithography course materials.

The materials in this series are arranged in alphabetical order.

The bulk of the material in this series has been digitized, except for blank pages of appointment books and ledgers, as well as duplicates of documents.

Printed material includes exhibition announcements and catalogs, clippings, magazines, posters, books written in Japanese, and other miscellaneous materials. Most of the materials are about Kenjilo Nanao and his artwork, but there are also printed materials about other artists, including his wife Gail Nanao.

This series is arranged into groupings by type of printed material, i.e., clippings, catalogs, and magazines. The materials are arranged chronologically within the subgroupings.

The bulk of the material in this series has been digitized except for duplicates. In some cases, exhibition catalogs and other publications have only had their covers, title pages, and relevant pages digitized.

Photographic material is primarily comprised of images of family and friends, with some images of artwork and exhibitions, and one small album of photographs of a house and neighborhood in Japan.

The photographs are loosely grouped together by subject.

This series has been digitized in its entirety.

The artwork series mostly consists of sketchbooks, as well as some loose drawings and watercolors. A few of the sketchbooks include some scattered journal entries and notes, but are mostly comprised of sketches and drawings in pencil and watercolor. The final sketchbook from 2010-2013 appears to be by Gail Nanao.

The sketchbooks are in loose chronological order, followed by ink and watercolor drawings.

The bulk of this series has been digitized, except for blank pages of sketchbooks.