Henry H. Harada Memorial Endowed Scholarship

The Henry H. Harada Memorial Endowed Scholarship was created in 2020 to honor the life and work of Henry Harada (BFA 49 Photography) by providing scholarship support to students in the Photography & Imaging program who demonstrate both financial need and academic merit.

Henry Harada was born in Yuma, Arizona in 1920, his interest in photography started in high school where he was the yearbook photographer. After Pearl Harbor was attacked Henry was among the many Japanese Americans interned in one of the Poston, Arizona concentration camps. Isamu Noguchi was also interned at Poston. Henry was eventually allowed to leave the camp when he found employment in Ohio. While there he was drafted by the Army and was on his way to Europe as the Germans surrendered. He was then reassigned to the War Department Language School at Fort Snelling, Minnesota to learn Japanese. While serving in the Military Intelligence Service, he went to Japan and the Philippines photographing convicted Japanese prisoners of war. After the war he was employed for a short stint at Columbia Records, pressing vinyl LPs before enrolling and graduating from ArtCenter in the photographic department in 1949. His pursuit of photography ultimately landed him in managerial roles of photographic departments of large defense contractor companies in the South Bay area. In retirement he taught photography on a part time basis at El Camino College.