Mosaic - Picture Brides
Picture brides journeyed to the US to join husbands who they had only met through photographs. In 1907, the US and Japan made a “Gentleman’s Agreement,” in which the US agreed to permit the wives and children of Japanese immigrants to come to the US, while Japan agreed to stop issuing passports to laborers seeking to work in the US.
Travel between the US and Japan was difficult, so many men who wanted to start families chose to have a matchmaker in Japan arrange a marriage instead of returning to Japan themselves. Between 1908 and 1920, an estimated 10,000 Japanese picture brides immigrated to the United States. Many came through the Port of San Francisco and were temporarily detained on Angel Island.
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Photo Caption: Picture brides on the rooftop deck of the Immigration Station’s administration building in 1910. Courtesy of California State Parks, Number 090-707.