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Helen Foster Archives
Collection of Setsuko Yamazato
1955–1959
The Archives featured in the touring exhibition Crushing Time: Ishigaki Geological Stories [link] unveil the island’s deep geological memory through rare color 16mm film, photographs, and meticulously hand-drawn maps from the archive of pioneering American geologist Helen Foster. This extraordinary body of work is preserved within the Setsuko Yamazato Archive, entrusted to Setsuko by Helen in 2000 as a gesture of shared memory and responsibility.
Thomas P. Thayer and Helen Foster
Ishigaki, 1955
In 1955–56, at just 17 years old, Setsuko Yamazato participated as a young assistant in the American geological survey of Ishigaki, a formative encounter that intertwined scientific exploration with lived experience. Working closely with Helen Foster, she took part in field observations and mapping expeditions across the island’s varied terrain—from coastal limestone outcrops to the dense interior jungle.
In 1955–56, at just 17 years old, Setsuko Yamazato participated as a young assistant in the American geological survey of Ishigaki, a formative encounter that intertwined scientific exploration with lived experience. Working closely with Helen Foster, she took part in field observations and mapping expeditions across the island’s varied terrain—from coastal limestone outcrops to the dense interior jungle.
Setsuko Yamazato and Helen Foster
Tokyo, 1959
The resulting geological maps, produced in Tokyo between 1957–59, offer a layered record of Ishigaki’s terrain prior to the wave of postwar development that reshaped the island. These maps were later used, without Setsuko’s knowledge, as the basis for a classified U.S. military geology survey of the region, now archived in Washington.
Setsuko Yamazato in drawing room
Tokyo, 1959
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