Daily AncestorPicture bride
A picture bride was a woman, usually Japanese or Korean, married to an immigrant in America through an exchange of photographs, who then sailed to join him.
The Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907 and 1908 cut off new Japanese laborers but still let wives of men already here come. In Japan a marriage was legal once the bride's name was entered in the groom's family registry, so a match arranged by go-betweens and photographs could be completed without the groom traveling home.
From 1908 to 1924 many Japanese women came this way. After 1910 most met their husbands for the first time at Angel Island. Their files may hold the photographs exchanged and a transcript of their Board of Special Inquiry hearing.
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Daily Ancestor. "Picture bride." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/immigration/picture-bride. Last checked 2026-10-12.