Guide to the Kruska Japanese Internment Collection
Finding aid prepared by Phoebe Huth, CCEPS Fellow, Fall 2014
Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd Library
800 North Dartmouth Ave
Claremont, CA, 91711
Phone: (909) 607-3977
Email: spcoll@cuc.claremont.edu
URL: http://libraries.claremont.edu/sc/default.html
© 2015
Claremont University Consortium. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Kruska Japanese Internment collection
Dates: 1905-2013
Collection number: H.Mss.1047
Creator:
Kruska, Dennis G.
Extent:
2 linear feet
(1.5 document boxes + 2 flat storage boxes +1 oversized folder)
Repository:
Claremont Colleges. Library. Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd Library. Claremont, CA 91711.
Abstract: Dennis G. “Denny” Kruska, a graduate of University of California, Los Angeles, Hughes Aircraft physicist, venture capitalist
researcher, printing consultant, historical author and bibliographer and collector of Yosemite and Sierra Nevada materials
amassed this collection of Japanese American internment items. The collection covers a wide variety of materials, ranging
from 1905 to 2013 which are arranged into six series, with like materials being grouped together, including newspapers and
clippings, photographs, postal materials, printed matter, realia, and research materials.
Physical location: Please consult repository.
Language of materials: Languages represented in the collection: English and Japanese.
Administrative Information
Access
This collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
All requests for permission to reproduce or to publish must be submitted in writing to Special Collections.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Kruska Japanese Internment collection (H.Mss 1047). Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd Library, Claremont
University Consortium.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Collection was partially gifted by and purchased from Dennis Kruska in May 2013.
Accruals
No additions to the collection is anticipated.
Processing Information
Processed by Phoebe Huth in 2014 in the Claremont Center for Engagement with Primary Sources (CCEPS), with assistance from
Lisa Crane. Overall, the collection is in good condition. Newspaper clippings were photocopied onto acid free paper and the
original discarded; however entire newspapers were kept in their original format. Photographs were placed in mylar sleeves.
The collector, Dennis Kruska, did not arrange the collection prior to it being received by the Honnold/Mudd Library Special
Collections; the arrangement was created by the processor. Monograph items were removed from the collection, added to Special
Collections' monograph collection and cataloged in Blais, the online catalog for the Claremont Colleges Library. These items
can be located in Blais using the keyword search term “Kruska Japanese Internment Collection”.
Biography/Administrative History
Dennis G. “Denny” Kruska was trained as a cloud physicist at UCLA and worked for Hughes Aircraft for 25 years. He has also
been known as a venture capitalist researcher, a printing consultant, historical author and bibliographer who has published
a number of works mostly on the high Sierra and Yosemite. These works include
Sierra Nevada big trees: history of the exhibitions, 1850-1903 (Los Angeles, Calif.: Dawson's Book Shop, 1985),
Bibliography of Yosemite, the central and the southern High Sierra, and the Big Trees, 1839-1900 in collaboration with L.
W. Currey
(Los Angeles, Calif.: Dawson's Book Shop, 1992),
Twenty-five letters from Norman Clyde, 1923-1964 in collaboration with Chester Versteeg and Clyde Norman (Los Angeles, Calif.: Dawson's Book Shop, 1998),
A celebration of Clifton F. Smith's life, 1920-1999 : a Santa Barbara native son in collaboration with Clifton F. Smith (Sherman Oaks, Cal.: the author, 1999) and others.
As a collector, Kruska’s main collecting focus has always been Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. However, through stories told
by his mother about a friend’s “disappearance” following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, later contacts with Japanese American
co-workers at Hughes Aircraft and close family friends, Kruska developed a curiosity about the Japanese American internment
experience. He began collecting material dealing with “America's injustice to the Japanese people during WWII, especially
Manzanar material, since it is on the border of the Sierra Nevada, my main collecting interest.” (Kruska, 2014).
Scope and Contents of Collection
The collection covers a wide variety of materials, including newspapers and clippings, photographs, postal materials, printed
matter, realia, and research materials regarding Japanese American internment during World War II. Newspaper clippings about
the beginning of the process of exclusion of Japanese Americans and memorialization throughout the century are included. Photographs
ranging from evacuation of Japanese Americans to relocation centers to life in internment camps are also included. Postal
covers, a postcard and letters, various forms of propaganda, including anti-Japanese and pro-Japanese propaganda, pamphlets,
brochures, and newsletters from as recently as 2010 are also some of the materials in the collection. Artifacts are from Japanese
internment camps and relocation centers, ranging from authentic materials, like a wooden "laundry" sign, to tourism souveniers,
like a tea towel. Documents used by Dennis Kruska for background to the collection are also included, such as short articles,
website pages, and correspondence with people donating items to Kruska.
Organization and Arrangement
This collection has been arranged in the following series:
Series 1: Newspapers and clippings, 1905-2013 and undated
Series 2: Photographs, 1942-2000 and undated
Series 3: Postal materials, 1913-1991 and undated
Series 4: Printed matter, 1942-2010 and undated
Series 5: Realia, 1945 and undated
Series 6: Research materials, 1917-2013 and undated
Within each series, materials are arranged alphabetically.
Related Material
Some artifacts from this collection were donated by Kruska to the Eastern California Museum (Independence, California) in
2002.
Related materials providing information on Japanese American relocation and internment may be found in the following collections
in the Honnold/Mudd Library Special Collections:
•H.Mss.0926 War Relocation Authority Records
•H.Mss.1048 Kenzo Robert Koike Papers
•H.Mss.1049 Yamano Japanese Internment Collection
•H.Mss.1052 Ken Tamura Papers
Seperated Materials
The following monograph items can be found in the online catalog, Blais, using the keyword search term “Kruska Japanese Internment
Collection”:
Abkhazi, Peggy.
Enemy subject : life in a Japanese internment camp, 1943-45. Stroud, Gloucestershire : A. Sutton, 1995. Call no: D805.C6 A355 1995.
Baker, Lillian.
American and Japanese relocation in World War II : fact, fiction & fallacy. Imprint Medford, OR : Webb Research Group, c1990. Call no: D769.8.A6 B33 1990.
Bosworth, Allan R. (Allan Rucker).
America's concentration camps. New York, Norton [1967]. Call no: D805.U5 B6 1967.
Bunting, Eve.
So far from the sea. [New York] : Scholastic Inc., 2000. Call no: PZ7.B91527 So 2000.
Edmiston, James.
Home again. Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1955. Call no: PS3509.D52 H6.
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
Report of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco as fiscal agent of the United States on its operations in connection with
evacuation operations in Military Areas no. 1 and no. 2 during 1942
. [San Francisco, 1943?]. Call no: D769.8.A6 F4.
Hannon, James J.
Nasakenai = We are forsaken. [San Diego] : Grossmont Press, c1977. Call no: PS3558.A4794 H36 1977.
Hirabayashi, Lane Ryo.
Japanese American resettlement through the lens : Hikaru Carl Iwasaki and the WRA's Photographic Section, 1943-1945. Boulder, Colo. : University Press of Colorado, c2009. Call no: D769.8.A6 H578 2009.
Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki.
Farewell to Manzanar; a true story of Japanese American experience during and after the World War II internment. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1973. Call no: E184.J3 H63 1973.
Internment of Japanese Americans. Dubuque, Iowa : Kendall/Hunt Pub. Co., [1991?]. Call no: D769.8.A6 I67 1991.
Manzanar National Historic Site, California : general management plan & environmental impact statement. [Independence, Calif.?] : U.S. National Park Service, Pacific West Field Area, [1996]. Call no: F868.M36 M35 1996.
Our world, 1943-1944, Manzanar High . [Logan, Utah : Herff Jones Yearbook Co., 1998.]. Call no: D769.8.A6 O77 1998.
Stevens, Frederic H.
Santo Tomas Internment Camp : 1942-1945. {New York] : F.H. Stevens, c1946. Call no: D805.P6 S8.
The View from within : Japanese American art from the internment camps, 1942-1945 : Wight Art Gallery October 13 through December
6, 1992
. [Los Angeles, Calif.] : Japanese American National Museum, c1992. Call no: N6538.J3 V54 1992x.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library’s online public access catalog.
Subject Terms
Japanese Americans
Japanese Americans -- Archives
Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945
World War, 1939-1945--Japanese Americans
Genre and Form of Materials
Artifacts
Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.)
Newspapers
Pamphlets
Photographs
Series 1:
Newspapers and clippings,
1905-2013 and undated
Arrangement
Alphabetical by folder title.
Scope and Contents
This series contains newspapers and various clippings. Some of the newspapers are originals from various Japanese internment
camps and relocation centers, like Santa Anita. There are also clippings of obituaries from people who survived Japanese internment,
methods of memorialization of different internment camps, exclusion reforms, and other clippings that give an insight to the
perception of Japanese Americans throughout the century.
Box 1, Folder 1
Convocation newspaper,
1992
Box 1, Folder 2
A Day in the City by Jack Smith,
1969 February
Box 1, Folder 3
Deja Vu by Teresa Watanabe,
2003 June 8
Box 2, Folder 2
Heart Mountain Sentinal,
1945 January
Box 2, Folder 3
Manzanar Free Press,
1944 June 3
Box 2, Folder 4
The Mindoka Irrigator,
1945 April 28
Box 1, Folder 4
Newspaper clippings, anti- oriental legislation proposed,
1930
Box 1, Folder 5
Newspaper clippings, Japanese,
1919
Box 1, Folder 6
Newspaper clippings, Japanese,
1940
Box 1, Folder 7
Newspaper clippings, Japanese,
1963
Box 1, Folder 8
Newspaper clippings, Japanese American boat builder in Gardena,
1979
Box 1, Folder 9
Newspaper clippings, Japanese Americans Manzanar,
1979
Box 1, Folder 10
Newspaper clippings, Japanese buying Southern California lands,
1979
Box 1, Folder 11
Newspaper clippings, Japanese exclusion,
1906 December 30-1907 February 16
Box 1, Folder 12
Newspaper clippings, Japanese in California
Times article,
1971
Box 1, Folder 13
Newspaper clippings, Japanese in California,
1972
Box 1, Folder 14
Newspaper clippings, Japanese in Los Angeles,
1945
Box 1, Folder 15
Newspaper clippings, Japanese in Los Angeles,
1971 June 26-1971 August 13
Box 1, Folder 16
Newspaper clippings, Japanese in Los Angeles,
1978
Box 1, Folder 17
Newspaper clippings, Los Angeles Japanese,
1940-1966
Box 1, Folder 18
Newspaper clippings, Manzanar Japanese,
1970 January 2
Box 1, Folder 19
Newspaper clippings, Manzanar Japanese pilgrimage,
1978
Box 2, Folder 5
Newspaper clippings, memorialization and remembrance,
2002 July 31-2011 June 8
Box 1, Folder 20
Newspaper clippings, miscellaneous,
1967-1969
Box 1, Folder 21
Newspaper clippings, obituaries,
2001 April 3-2013 February 22
Box 2, Folder 6
Newspaper clippings, obituaries,
2005 April 1
Box 1, Folder 22
Newspaper clippings, pardon by Gerald Ford,
1976
Box 1, Folder 23
Newspaper clippings,
Plans Solidified for Manzanar Pilgrimage
Box 1, Folder 24
Newspaper clippings,
Potato King Japanese,
1906 December 28
Box 1, Folder 25
Newspaper clippings, settlement of Japanese in Los Angeles,
1905
Box 1, Folder 26
Newspaper clippings, WWII drama Japanese,
1971 December 7
Box 1, Folder 27
Newspaper clippings, WWII Manzanar Japanese,
1972 January 22
Box 2, Folder 7
Pacific Citizen,
1966 December 23-1966 December 30
Box 2, Folder 8
Santa Anita Pacemaker newspapers,
1942
Series 2:
Photographs,
1942-2000 and undated
Arrangement
Alphabetical by folder title.
Scope and Contents
This series contains multiple photographs of people throughout the Japanese internment process, including barracks construction,
evacuation of Japanese Americans, and a high school band in Manzanar Internment Camp mainly from March of 1942. This series
also includes a print of a sketch of the Japanese evacuation.
Box 1, Folder 28
Evacuation of Japanese,
1942 March 29
Box 1, Folder 30
Japanese arriving at Owens Valley,
1942 March 29
Box 1, Folder 31
Manzanar barracks construction,
1942
Box 1, Folder 32
Manzanar High School band,
2000 August 9
Box 1, Folder 33
Owens Valley and mountains,
1942 March 29
Box 1, Folder 34
A Temporary Haven at Famous Anita Track,
1942 March 29
Box 1, Folder 35
Tule Lake segregation center,
1943
Box 1, Folder 37
7 a.m. May 10, 1942 print,
1942 May 10
Series 3:
Postal materials,
1913-1991 and undated
Arrangement
Alphabetical by folder title.
Scope and Contents
This series contains correspondence, an envelope, and a postcard surrounding Japanese internment. There are also several postal
covers from various internment camps in Colorado, California, and Arizona, with cancellation stamps.
Box 1, Folder 38
Letter of redress payment to Sasaki, Takeshi,
1991 March 5
Box 1, Folder 39
Ox Fibre Brush Company, Inc. envelope,
1913 November 4
Box 1, Folder 40
Paul Burns letter to Mr. and Mrs. Glen Woody,
1942 November 22
Box 1, Folder 41
Postal covers, with postal stamp and cancellation stamp, Arizona camps,
1943 October 13-1944 January 10
Box 1, Folder 42
Postal covers, with postal stamp and cancellation stamp, California, Nebraska, Wyoming camps,
1943 October 8-1944 March 15
Box 1, Folder 43
Postal covers, with postal stamp and cancellation stamp, Colorado camps,
1943 October 18-1944 March 7
Series 4:
Printed matter,
1942-2010 and undated
Arrangement
Alphabetical by folder title.
Scope and Contents
Printed matter is a range of materials, including both pro- and anti-Japanese propaganda from the time of Japanese internment,
pamphlets, a 1945 high school year book from Manzanar Internment Camp, newsletters from as recent as 2010, and a Public Proclamation
from 1942, which establishes Japanese internment.
Box 1, Folder 45
The Back Page by Dwight Young,
1994
Box 1, Folder 47
Friends of Manzanar newsletter,
2010
Box 1, Folder 48
Issei, Nisei, Kibei,
1944 April
Box 1, Folder 49
Manzanar All Camp Reunion,
1984
Box 1, Folder 50
Manzanar High School yearbook,
1945
Box 1, Folder 51
Manzanar History Association,
2005 March-May
Box 1, Folder 52
Manzanar National Historic Site California materials,
1992 November-2005 September 17
Box 1, Folder 53
Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play,
1944 September
Box 1, Folder 54
Public Proclamation no.7,
1942 June 8
Box 1, Folder 55
The View from Within, Japanese American art from the Internment Camp,
2005 April 8
Box 1, Folder 56
What About Our Japanese-Americans?,
1944
Box 1, Folder 58
Why the West Coast Opposes the Japanese
Series 5:
Realia,
1945 and undated
Arrangement
Alphabetical by folder title.
Scope and Contents
This series contains artifacts, ranging from authentic, such as a sign from the Manzanar Internment Camp, to more touristic,
like a tea towel from Hunt, Idaho. It also includes a pin; a piece of tarp wall, and matchbooks.
Box 2, Folder 1
Consumers co-op Hunt, Idaho tea towel,
1945
Box 1, Folder 1
Hanging scroll from Manzanar residence
Box 1, Folder 60
Piece of tarp wall from barracks
Box 2, Item 1
Sierra Vista Ranch 1002 badge from Hunt, Idaho commemorative
Box 3, Item 1
Wooden laundry sign from Manzanar
Series 6:
Research materials,
1917-2013 and undated
Arrangement
Alphabetical by folder title.
Scope and Contents
Research materials include documents used by the collector, Dennis Kruska, in order to provide background on the subject of
Japanese internment during World War II. Some materials describe first hand experiences of life in the relocation centers,
others are printed web pages from websites such as the National Park Service (NPS.org) or owensvalleyhistory.com. This series
also contains printed copies of photographs, not part of the collection, printed from eBay by Kruska.
Box 4, Folder 1
Article from
Manzanar Courier on NPS.gov, 2000 Summer,
accessed 2001 February 15
Box 4, Folder 2
Article on photographer Dorothea Lange in
Japan Focus, 2006 November 2,
accessed 2010 September 3
Box 4, Folder 3
Background information from bennington.edu,
1999 September 27
Box 4, Folder 4
Background information from calhist.org,
2000 February 21
Box 4, Folder 5
Background information on Japanese American internment from unidentified website
Box 4, Folder 6
Background information on Owens Valley Committee from owensriver.org,
2002 December 12
Box 4, Folder 7
Background information from owensvalleyhistory.com on Manzanar,
2002 March 26
Box 4, Folder 8
Background information on Manzanar from geocities.com,
2001 February 15
Box 4, Folder 9
Background information on Manzanar and relocation camps from motherjones.com, 1998 September 15,
accessed 2002 December 12
Box 4, Folder 10
Background information on movie
Farewell to Manzanar (1976) from imdb.com,
accessed 1999 September 27
Box 4, Folder 11
Background information from NPS.gov,
2001 February 15
Box 4, Folder 12
Background information on San Francisco from sfmuseum.org,
2002 March 20
Box 4, Folder 13
Copies of photographs purchased from Ebay
Box 4, Folder 14
eBay image of letter from girl in Poston, Arizona dated 1943 September 26,
accessed 2012 January 22
Box 4, Folder 15
Correspondence with Eastern California Museum,
2001 March 2
Box 4, Folder 16
Los Angeles Times article on, Santa Anita, 2990 November 8,
accessed 2013 March 18
Box 4, Folder 17
Manzanar: A Life Story excerpt,
1993
Box 4, Folder 18
The Manzanar Years: My Life at Manzanar account by members of the Handa family
Box 4, Folder 19
Partial article on Japanese immigration to California
Box 4, Folder 20
Photocopy of the Constitution and By-laws of the Santa Anita Assembly Center
Box 4, Folder 21
Photocopy of information on Jonosuke and Tsuruye Handa,
1917 January 27-1923 February 23
Box 4, Folder 22
Photocopy of letter from the governor of Colorado regarding creation of internment facilities,
1942 June 2
