The collection consists of correspondence and book lists sent between Judah and Felter at Pacific School of Religion, the seminary libraries participating in loaning the books, and representatives in the camps coordinating the book collections in their respective camps. The files are in their original order using original folder headings. The folders were arranged by camp. All correspondence to and from a camp is in the folder headed with the camp's name. Folders containing correspondence to individuals are headed with the individual's name. There is correspondence also with the War Relocation Authority.

In late 1942, J. Stillson Judah, Librarian at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California, started a project to "establish small libraries of religious books for Japanese ministers in the WRA [War Relocation Authority] camps." (Letter: Judah to Eugene B. Hawk, 11/17/1942, File Folder 2) To accomplish this, he first enlisted the aid of the four other seminaries in Berkeley, Berkeley Baptist Divinity School, Starr King School for the Ministry (Unitarian), San Francisco Theological Seminary (Presbyterian), and the Church Divinity School of the Pacific (Episcopalian). Judah wrote, "We hope to have about a hundred volumes in each camp library, and intend to rotate these every few months among the several centers." (Letter: Judah to Eugene B. Hawk, 11/17/1942, File Folder 2) Since there were twelve camps, there would be 1,200 volumes total. The combined resources of the Berkeley seminaries were not enough to fill the need. Judah therefore recruited book contributions from seminaries all over the United States reasoning that the more libraries participating, the less interference it would make on their own institutional needs. Six other seminaries joined the original five in Berkeley to total eleven seminaries participating in the project.

1 box

5 inches

Copyright has not been assigned to The Graduate Theological Union. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Graduate Theological Union as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Collection is open for research.