The Nisaburo Aibara Collection features materials from the Turlock Social Club, a local Japanese-American community group active between 1939 and 1970. It contains documents regarding the Stockton, Turlock and Merced Assembly Centers and Japanese American Citizens League chapters. The Collection also features correspondences with reactions, responses, and preparations for the 1942 forced removal and internment of Japanese-Americans. Additionally, the Collection has records on the Central California Cantaloupe Company, Turlock Farm Corporation, Turlock Japanese Society, and family records and funeral service programs of Japanese-American residents of Turlock.  Fifty-eight items from this collection were digitized and became part of the CSU Japanese American History Digitization Project.

Nisaburo Aibara 相原仁三郎 was born in Yamanashi Ken 山梨県, Japan, on January 1, 1870. He came to San Francisco in 1896 and relocated to Modesto in 1906. Aibara resided in the Central Valley of California for 67 years and lived in Turlock from 1913 until 1973, when he passed away at the age of 103. Aibara was a prominent member of the Japanese-American communities. He organized the Stanislaus County Japanese Association and acted as liaison between Caucasians and Japanese in the region. Nisaburo Aibara was bestowed the ruby Medal of the Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Japanese government in 1968, in recognition of his outstanding service to his fellow Japanese-Americans. The Nisaburo Aibara Collection was donated to the California State University Library in the 1970s, after Mr. Aibara’s passing on February 10, 1973.

The Nisaburo Aibara Collection contains incorporation certificates issued by the Department of State of California for the Central California Cantaloupe Company, a company formed and led by Aibara; records and minutes of Turlock Social Club, Turlock Japanese Society, and Turlock Farm Corporation; and family records and funeral service programs of Japanese-American residents of Turlock.

The Collection also includes a March 29, 1942 letter from the President of Turlock Social Club, Tsuneo Iwata, to members of the Club, following the announcement of the March 24 Public Proclamation #3, and a March 31 letter to the Evacuee Property Department offering the Japanese Social Hall in Turlock as a government storage place for properties of Turlock evacuees. A series of correspondence dated April 1942 from Iwata sent on behalf of the Turlock Social Club are also in the Collection. Other items include the Constitution of the Stanislaus-Merced Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (J.A.C.L.) (circa 1942), minutes of Northern California District Council J.A.C.L., a 1942 Oath of Allegiance form for members of J.A.C.L., and other forms for evacuees.

Not digitized but also in the Collection are fundraising records, financial ledgers, and various personal correspondence.

Series 1 is comprised of yearbooks, songbooks, and Japanese-language manuscripts, while series 2 is comprised of Turlock Social Club correspondence, directories, newspaper clippings, general correspondence, and diary. Series 3 is comprised of Turlock Social Club organization and membership documents, while Series 4 is comprised of Turlock Farm Cooperative, California Canteloupe Company, and Japanese Agricultural Association of Stanislaus County documents.