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Title: Emery Fast papers
Dates: 1944-1945
Bulk Dates: 1945
Collection number: 95.132
Creator:
Fast, Emery
Collection Size:
0.50 linear feet
Repository:
Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Los Angeles, California 90012
Abstract: Emery Fast (ca. 1907-1997) worked for the War Relocation Authority during World War II. The collection is largely comprised
of personal letters written to his wife, Ethel “Billie” Fast, as he worked in both Utah and California and she worked in Washington,
D.C. but also includes a report, speech, staff directory, and WRA booklets that belonged to Emery Fast.
Physical location: Japanese American National Museum
100 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012
By appointment only.
Please Contact the Collections Management and Access Unit by email (collections@janm.org) or telephone (213-830-5615).
All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in this collection must be submitted to the Collections
Management and Access Unit at the Japanese American National Museum (collections@janm.org).
[Identification of item], Emery Fast papers. 95.132, Japanese American National Museum. Los Angeles, CA.
Biography / Administrative History
Emery Fast earned a political science degree from Stanford University in 1938 and went on to work for the War Relocation Authority
throughout World War II. His wife, Ethel Fast, worked for Dillon Myer in Washington, D.C during the war. Myer served as the
Director of the WRA from 1942-1946.
In March 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt established a civilian agency known as the War Relocation Authority (WRA). The
WRA administered and assisted in the controlled migration of 110,000 people of Japanese descent who lived in areas around
the Pacific coast and into concentration camps located between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Mississippi River. War
Relocation officers were responsible for maintenance and supervision of the camps, and sought employment for Japanese Americans.
Furthermore, Japanese Americans who wanted to leave the concentration camps had to meet strict requirements and obtain permission
from the WRA. Indefinite leave was granted to those who securely obtained a place to settle and means of support, and those
who left had to agree to inform the WRA of any employment and address changes. Emery Fast was employed for the War Relocation
Board, traveling to throughout Utah and California to aid in Japanese American resettlement. His letters to his wife expressed
his work responsibilities to resettle Japanese Americans into white West Coast communities, and his personal everyday encounters.
Scope and Content of Collection
The letters sent from Emery Fast to his wife provide context about the daily tasks of WRA staff as well as interactions between
government staff and incarcerated Japanese Americans during World War II. In his letters, Fast primarily describes his work
relocating incarcerated families after the surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945. Fast’s letters shed light on the tensions
faced by Japanese Americans as they left the concentration camps and tried to find work.
Fast provides a sympathetic point of view and expresses worry for many of the families he worked with in his letters to his
wife. Fast writes multiple times about Dr. and Mrs. Ichihashi, whom he interviewed for resettlement. Dr. Ichihashi, one of
the first Asian American academics in the United States, taught Japanese history and government, international relations,
and the Japanese American experience during his time as a professor at Stanford University. Fast was particularly worried
about Dr. Ichihashi after the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Japan as Nagasaki was his native city. The letters
are filled with stories of Japanese Americans that Fast worked with in 1945.
Fast worked hard to get Japanese Americans their jobs back following the end of the war and often expressed little patience
for ignorance and racist attitudes. Throughout the collection, Fast expresses concern about bigotry towards Japanese Americans,
describing property issues and other hardships that arose after leaving the camps.
Letters have been arranged chronologically. Dates were taken from envelopes if unavailable on letter.
Series 1 : Correspondence
Series 2: Miscellaneous Documents
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Fast, Emery
Fast,Ethel
Fast, August
Myer, Dillon S. (Dillon Seymour), 1891-1982
McKee, Ruth Eleanor, 1903-
Kuroki, Ben, 1918-
Japanese Americans
World War II
Japanese Americans--Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945.
Central Utah Project
United States. War Relocation Authority
Japanese American evacuation and resettlement
Santa Rosa (Calif.)
Central Utah Relocation Center
Topaz (Utah)
Granada Relocation Center
Amache (Colo.)
Washington (D.C.)