mums565 Herbert Passin Collection, 1944-1955 Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Dex Haven. Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Dubois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, Mass.
2008

© University of Massachusetts Amherst. All rights reserved.

 Finding aid encoded in MSWord2008-06-06 Finding aid written in English Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst Herbert Passin Collection Finding Aid MS 565 Compiled by Dexter Haven June 2008

© 2008 University of Massachusetts Amherst. All rights reserved.

 Collection Overview Passin, Herbert Herbert Passin Collection 1944-1955 MS 565 1 box (0.25 linear ft.) Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst A distinguished scholar of contemporary Japan, Herbert Passin was born in Chicago on Dec. 16, 1916. After completing a doctorate in anthropology in 1941, Passin was inducted into the Army and sent to the Army's Japanese language school in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for training. Assigned to duty in Tokyo in December 1945, he became chief of the Public Opinion and Sociological Research Division under Gen. Douglas MacArthur. During his tour of duty, Passin coordinated a series of sociological studies of Japanese village life to help guide U.S. Occupation policy, particularly as it dealt with land and labor reform. The Passin Collection contains reports and notes of sociological surveys of two Japanese villages, Yuzurihara and Yawatano, conducted by U.S. Occupation authorities in 1946 and 1947, along with a wartime report by Arthur Meadow of "Japanese character structure based on Japanese film plots and thematic apperception tests on Japanese Americans," and a post-war letter from the novelist Takami Jun. English and Japanese Historical Note

A distinguished scholar of contemporary Japan, Herbert Passin was born in Chicago on Dec. 16, 1916. Following undergraduate study at the University of Illinois, Passin entered graduate school at Northwestern, earning a doctorate in anthropology in 1941 for his work on the Tarahumara Indians. With the war, however, his academic career took a dramatic turn, crossing the Pacific in the process. Inducted into the Army, he was sent to the Army's Japanese language school in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for training, and from there, in December 1945, he was assigned to duty in Tokyo as chief of the Public Opinion and Sociological Research Division under Gen. Douglas MacArthur. During his tour of duty, Passin coordinated a series of sociological studies of Japanese village life to help guide U.S. Occupation policy, particularly as it dealt with land and labor reform.

Passin returned to civilian life in 1947 and to his academic pursuits. After a prolific and varied career, culminating in his appointment as chair of the Sociology Department at Columbia University and its East Asia Institute, Passin died of coronary disease on Feb. 26, 2003.

 Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Passin Collection contains reports and notes of sociological surveys of two Japanese villages, Yuzurihara and Yawatano, conducted by U.S. Occupation authorities in 1946 and 1947, along with a wartime report by Arthur Meadow of "Japanese character structure based on Japanese film plots and thematic apperception tests on Japanese Americans," and a post-war letter from the novelist Takami Jun.

The collection is open for research.

 Preferred Citation

Cite as: Herbert Passin Collection (MS 565). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Gift of James and Sibylle Fraser, October 2007.

Processed by Dexter Haven, 2008.

 Search Terms Passin, Herbert. Takami, Jun, 1907-1965 Japan--History--Allied occupation, 1945-1952. Japan--Sociology--Occupation. Letters (Correspondence). Separated Material

The following was transferred for storage to the printed materials collections in SCUA:

Jun, Eto, Seijuku to sōshitsu : "haha" no hōkai (Tokyo: Kawade Shobo, 1967). Presentation copy inscribed by Eto Jun to Passin, Aug. 14, 1970. Call no.: PL721.M68 E86 1967. Field trip to Yuzurihara 1947 April Kitano, Seiichi A report on the visit to Yuzurihara village 1947 Apr. 11-14 Report 1947 Apr. 17 Jun, Takami Letter to Herbert Passin 1955 Aug. 29

Re: women during the American occupation; literary matters. In Japanese.

 Koyama, T. A brief description about the neighborhood group system of Yawatano village 1946 Sept. 18 Meadow, Arnold An anaysis of Japanese character structure based on Japanese film plots and thematic apperception tests on Japanese Americans 1944 Passin, HerbertGendai Amerika no shakai jinruigaku (Tōkyō : Shōkō Shoin, 1949).1949Bound vol. Shakaigaku kenkyū (Sociological Research), vol. 1, no. 31948 MarchBound vol.

This issue contains an article in Japanese by Passin on the social-psychological dimensions in public opinion research.

 Shinbun kenkyū (Journalism Research), no. 71948 Feb.Bound vol.

This issue contains an article in Japanese by Passin on problems in public polling.

 Yawatano Report 1946 Sept. The young men's group system of Yawatano 1946 Sept. 19 The regulation of Hijogumi in Yawata, Tajima-mura, Tagata-gun, Shizuoka-ken 1946 Sept. 19 The festival of the Yawatano shrine in Izu Province [1946 Sept. 19]