Time Travel
In helping to curate an exhibition on the Club’s history, Library manager Drew Damron reveals what he learned along the way.
Before working at the Club, I was an assistant in the local history department of the Grand Rapids Public Library in Michigan.
There, in the city where I grew up, I assisted visitors with their research requests. These ranged from locating original images of an old home or digging up a relative’s obituary to digitizing historic postcards or answering genealogical questions.
Every day, I learned new things about my hometown. My favorite thing about the job was how, bit by bit, I acquired a sort of time-travel vision. I began to see the streets where I grew up in a different light. There were remnants of the past everywhere, in the buildings and urban planning. It felt like I was exploring a new city, repeatedly, without ever having to go anywhere. Each visitor added a new dimension to my hometown. After a year in the position, I was inspired to pursue a master’s degree with a specialization in archives and digital content management.
When I started working at the Club five years ago, I was shocked to find so little history on our walls, particularly with our centenary set for 2028. I began to make regular inquiries into the whereabouts of the Club’s historic materials. Most seemed to be either behind glass in the Membership Office or tucked away in desk drawers or random corners of the building.
In trying to learn more, I set a personal goal to build a Club archive in the Library. The seeds of the exhibition launching this month in the Frederick Harris Gallery were planted.
But local history research here can be uniquely challenging. The Club has had five “homes” since 1928 (including the new hub in Nihonbashi), and, with each move, things were lost or discarded. With the devastation of Tokyo during World War II (when the Club was forcibly shut), trying to find prewar documents has proved difficult.
But every few months, a colleague or Member finds something of interest and donates it to our growing archive. Sometimes an item answers a vital question, such as why the Club was started in the first place. Other times, it’s just amusing, like a photo from the 1950s of six adult Members dressed as pirates wrestling in the pool.
Each artifact adds more to our story and answers nagging questions, including why there is a piece of the original Imperial Hotel outside Traders’ Bar, far from the famous hotel’s original location, which was close to the first American Club, or why that granite “origin of Japan” monument is just outside our Azabudai property (the Naval Observatory was established there in 1874).
This exhibition aims to showcase all these interesting facts and backstories, ensure they’re available for all Members to see and preserve our heritage for future generations.
Tokyo American Club: Through the Years
January 17–February 6
Words: Drew Damron
Top Image of Drew Damron: Clara Garcia
