UC Riverside

This research focuses on the San Gabriel Valley (SGV), a region located east of Los Angeles County where there was once a growing community of Japanese farmers starting in the late-19th century. In recording Japanese American history, less emphasis is placed on surrounding local areas that tend to be overlooked in favor of dense urban areas, like the historic district of Little Tokyo, where there are more written sources and records available. This paper argues that a multiple methodological approach through oral history and quantitative data analysis can be utilized to reveal complex local histories often absent from official archives. These methodologies are examined separately, but also collectively, to uncover these less-researched histories of Japanese Americans in the SGV. The goal of this work is to provide future pathways for multimethodological research to occur and to open further dialogue that recognizes the significance of local histories within a larger national framework.