Ohnick, Marion to Frances Ohnick, Undated

The Ohnick Family Papers house correspondence, images, clippings, performance programs, contracts, real estate records, and other materials documenting Hachiro and Katherine Ohnick and their children, Ben, Tom, Marion, and Helen. The majority of these materials record the family’s life in Seattle, Ben Ohnick’s career in the Philippines, Ben and Tom Ohnick’s military service during World War I, and Marion Ohnick’s operatic career under the stage name Haru Onuki. Other records show Helen Ohnick’s work as a real estate broker, Tom Ohnick’s high school football teams, and Hachiro Ohnick’s emigration to the United States and work in early Phoenix.

Series I: Correspondence houses letters exchanged between members of the Ohnick family. Common subjects include family news, career updates, and comments regarding the weather, travel, and money. Helen and Marion Ohnick traveled together often in the 1920s and early 1930s, during which time their letters to other family members often discuss their living conditions; Marion’s career, including contracts she asks for Ben’s opinion on and her training; friends they have seen abroad; money; and their health. Helen’s letters also reference Papa’s science treatments, which may refer to Christian Science given that Marion later mentions the family following both Christian Science and Episcopalianism at various times.

Marion wrote to Helen extensively when they were not traveling together, including during the late 1930s when Marion was working in Germany and witnessed the increasingly overt persecution of German Jews. Researchers are advised that these letters are often explicitly anti-Semitic. Marion’s later correspondence includes observations on aging and religion, Ben’s final illness, Helen’s nursing home, and politics, including her work for Richard Nixon’s 1960 presidential campaign.

Ben and Tom Ohnick’s correspondence generally focuses on business endeavors and their military service. Tom wrote numerous letters while deployed to France describing life on the Western Front, while Ben describes life at Washington's Camp Lewis. Tom’s later correspondence recounts a trip he took to Japan in 1922, while Ben’s chronicles his work in the Philippines, his wife and children’s activities, and rental properties he managed.

Series II: Photographs consists primarily of portraits and snapshots of Ohnick family members, including formal posed portraits, team portraits of football players including Ben Ohnick, snapshots of Ben’s home in Seattle, and images of buildings believed to be associated with Hachiro Ohnick’s work with utilities in Phoenix. Also included are commercially produced postcard sets documenting tourist attractions in Japan. Images of Marion Ohnick in costume as Haru Onuki have been removed to Series III.

Series III: Haru Onuki Papers houses programs, clippings, promotional materials, contracts, photographs, and other materials documenting Marion Ohnick’s operatic career. She frequently sang the role of Cho-Cho-San in Madame Butterfly early in her career and later transitioned to solo performances of a selection of songs. Most of the performances documented in this collection took place in the United States, Britain, and Germany between 1916 and 1936. Also included are images of Marion Ohnick in concert, portraits of other artists, and tax information.

Series IV: Family papers includes clippings, military records, pamphlets, and other materials documenting Ben Ohnick’s life in the Philippines, including his and Ina Ohnick’s incarceration in Santo Tomas during World War II; Helen Ohnick’s career as a real estate agent in California; and Tom Ohnick’s military service in World War I. Of particular note are research and publications documenting Hachiro Ohnick, including his emigration to the United States and work in early Phoenix.