Finding Aid to the Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play records 1940-1951

Processed by Linda Jordan and Terence Padden

The Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, CA 94720-6000

Phone: (510) 642-6481

Fax: (510) 642-7589

Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu

1998

Finding Aid to the Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play records 1940-1951

Collection number: BANC MSS C-A 171

The Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, CA 94720-6000

Phone: (510) 642-6481

Fax: (510) 642-7589

Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu

Finding Aid Author(s):: Processed by Linda Jordan and Terence Padden
Finding Aid Encoded By:: GenX

Collection Summary

Collection Title: Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play Records

Date (inclusive): 1940-1951

Collection Number: BANC MSS C-A 171

Creator: Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play

Extent: Number of containers: 5 cartons and 8 boxes Linear feet: 9.55

Repository: The Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, CA 94720-6000

Phone: (510) 642-6481

Fax: (510) 642-7589

Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu

Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English

Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Information for Researchers

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library 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.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play Records, BANC MSS C-A 171, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Related Collections

Japanese American evacuation and resettlement records, 1930-1974 (BANC MSS 67/14 c)

Morton Grodzins, Political Aspects of the Japanese Evacuation (BANC MSS 71/169 c)

Japanese American Citizens League, National Ad Hoc Committee to Repeal the Emergency Detention Act records, 1967-1971 (BANC MSS 75/59 z)

Harry Lee Kingman papers, 19921-1975 (BANC MSS 76/173 c)

Rosalie H. Wax papers, 1943-1974 (BANC MSS 83/115 c)

Galen Merriam Fisher correspondence (BANC MSS 86/179 c)

Material Cataloged Separately

Photographs transferred to the Pictorial Collections at The Bancroft Library (BANC PIC 1953.016)

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Records

Japanese Americans -- Evacuation and relocation, 1942-1945

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

The Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play Records were given to The Bancroft Library by Dr. Galen M. Fisher in 1952.

Funding

Funding for processing provided in part by a Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA), Title III: Networking, Preservation and Statewide Resource-sharing grant, 1994-1996.

This project was funded, in part, by a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Organization History

The Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play was organized in January of 1943 with the express purpose of insuring the constitutional rights of persons of Japanese ancestry who had been evacuated from the Pacific Coast and relocated to the interior of the country by presidential proclamation in 1942.

The committee was an outgrowth of the Committee on National Security and Fair Play, which had been originally constituted in October 1941, under the name of the Northern California Committee for Fair Play for Citizens and Aliens of Japanese Ancestry. Among its founders and leading members were David P. Barrows, Monroe Deutsch, Josephine Duveneck, Galen M. Fisher, Henry Francis Grady, Ruth Kingman, Alfred J. Lundberg, Robert Millikan, Chester Rowell, Robert Gordon Sproul, Paul Taylor, and Ray Lyman Wilbur.

The committee acted as an unofficial public relations representative of the War Department, the Justice Department, the State Department, the War Relocation Authority, and any other government body or civil servant whose responsibility it was to express a considered opinion concerning persons of Japanese ancestry in the United States. The work of the committee included disseminating educational materials to the public, providing public speakers, holding conferences, correcting distorted statements in the press, carrying on a dialogue with governmental officials and leaders of community groups, investigating conditions at relocation centers and monitoring the return of the evacuees after the centers were closed. Chapters were formed in Fresno, Los Angeles, Pasadena, Santa Barbara, Portland, and Seattle.

After the closing of the relocation centers, committee members decided that other, broader based interracial, intercultural community organizations could more effectively continue the work of the committee and incorporate its programs into their own. To this end, the Pacific Coast Committee for American Principles and Fair Play dissolved itself in December 1945.

Scope and Content

The Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play Records date from 1940 to 1951, and relate to the evacuation, internment, and relocation of Japanese-Americans during World War II. The collection consists of a variety of materials, including correspondence, reports, minutes, and printed materials, which provide insight into the feelings of the citizens connected to this situation.

Correspondence includes requests for information from government agencies and community organizations as well as individuals. Committee records include memoranda, reports, minutes of Executive Board meetings, and financial records. Publications include articles by Dr. Galen M. Fisher.

Materials relate to the evacuation, internment, and relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II. Correspondence includes requests for information from government agencies and officials, community groups, and private individuals. Committee records include in-house correspondence, memoranda, reports of activities, minutes of executive board meetings, financial records, and publications, including articles by Dr. Galen M. Fisher. Materials collected by the Committee for reference purposes include Japanese-American subject files relating to evacuation from the west coast, specific relocation centers, and resettlement legislative issues; War Relocation Authority files, including memoranda, reports, statements, press releases, and clippings which illustrate the committee's role in the interpretation and dissemination of government information; and, files for various organizations, which may include correspondence, minutes, reports, statements, and printed materials as well as clippings, all providing insight into the feelings of citizens connected to the situation.

The Japanese-American subject files include evacuation from the West Coast, materials regarding specific relocation centers, and resettlement legislative issues. The relationship of The Committee to the War Relocation Authority is illustrated by handwritten memos, reports, and statements. Of particular interest are field notes and interviews regarding the return of the Japanese-Americans to Northern California in the summer of 1945. A selection of clippings completes the collection.

SERIES 1: CORRESPONDENCE, 1942-1945.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically or alphabetically, as appropriate.

Scope and Content Note

Divided into three sub-series: General Correspondence: Incoming/Outgoing; In-House Correspondence: Incoming/Outgoing; and Correspondence Arranged by Subject. The series is a comprehensive record of the day to day activities of the Committee. General Correspondence: Incoming/Outgoing includes requests for information from government agencies and community groups as well as individuals. In-House Correspondence: Incoming/Outgoing includes minutes of many chapter meetings forwarded to headquarters in letter form. Correspondence Arranged By Subject is presented as the subjects were designated by the Committee.

GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE: INCOMING/OUTGOING, 1942-1945

box 1, folder 1

Incoming/Outgoing March 1942-Sept. 1943 BANC MSS C-A 171